Methods and systems for hands-free fare validation and gateless transit

ABSTRACT

A system and method in which a user application on a mobile device facilitates hands-free fare validation and gateless entry/exit at a transit facility like a transit station or a transit vehicle. The user application communicates with a Bluetooth gateway to authenticate the device and provides device-specific information for device identification and location determination. The user application also sends a secure token to the gateway to validate an electronic ticket stored in the device. A positioning unit uses the device-specific information to generate a timestamped location data for the device. A camera monitors the device user&#39;s movement and generates another timestamped location data for the device. A controller driver compares two timestamped location data to determine that the user of the device is approaching a gateless entry point and allows the user to avail a transit service through the gateless entry point when the electronic ticket is valid and active.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of and claims the prioritybenefit under 35 U.S.C. § 120 of the U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/228,232 filed on Aug. 4, 2016, which claims the priority benefitunder 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/206,196filed on Aug. 17, 2015, the disclosures of both of these applicationsare incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. Thisapplication is also a continuation-in-part of and claims the prioritybenefit under 35 U.S.C. § 120 of the U.S. application Ser. No.15/692,503 filed on Aug. 31, 2017.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to automated fare validation attransit stations. More particularly, and not by way of limitation,particular embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to asystem and method of hands-free fare validation and gateless entry/exitfor a transit service using Bluetooth® such as, for example, BluetoothLow Energy (LE).

BACKGROUND

Many transit stations, such as train platforms or bus terminals,routinely employ automatic fare validation (or ticket validation)systems to improve user experience and increase the throughput ofpassengers through, for example, fare gates to and from the trainplatforms. Modern technical advances, such as smartcards,two-dimensional (2D) barcodes, and Near Field Communication (NFC)capable mobile devices, have reduced passenger ingress and egress timethrough fare gates. Smartcards can be either contact or contactless, andcan provide personal identification, authentication, data storage, andapplication processing. NFC-enabled portable devices can be providedwith apps, for example, to read electronic tags or make a transactionwhen connected to an NFC-compliant apparatus.

SUMMARY

Although the above-mentioned technical advances have reduced passengeringress and egress times through fare gates, passenger throughput isstill hampered by passengers having to search for their smartcards orgetting out their mobile phones (for example, to establish an NFCcontact).

It is therefore desirable to improve the process of automated farevalidation and to also improve the passenger throughput through a faregate at a transit station. It is further desirable to perform ticketvalidation “hands free” and, in a gateless environment, to facilitategateless entry/exit for a transit service in an automated, hands-freemanner.

As a solution, particular embodiments of the present disclosure providefor a hands-free process of automated fare validation and gatelessentry/exit. In particular embodiments, the Bluetooth technology may beused in conjunction with a user application on a mobile device tofacilitate such hands-free operations. In one embodiment, the solutionmay comprise a mobile app for the passenger and an add-on box thatinterfaces to a compliant fare gate. Bluetooth beacons may be used todetermine a passenger's proximity to the gate and camera-like devicesmay interface to the add-on box to determine whether a passenger(perhaps without a smartphone) has entered the fare gate. According toparticular embodiments of the present disclosure, a user with a validticket may simply walk through the fare gate “hands free” without theneed to search for a physical ticket or a smartcard or a mobile phone.This hassle-free approach may significantly improve the user experienceand passenger throughput through fare gates. In another embodiment,positioning locators and camera(s) may be used to detect the movement ofa user carrying the mobile device and to facilitate the user's entryinto (or exit from) a transit service in a gateless environment for atruly hassle-free experience.

The Bluetooth LE-based automated fare validation system as per teachingsof particular embodiments of the present disclosure may detect andprovide feedback to the passenger, when the passenger enters into a“Paid Area” with a valid electronic ticket (which may be stored in thepassenger's mobile device). A controller as per teachings of the presentdisclosure may also detect when a passenger, with a mobile ticketpreviously activated, exits from the Paid Area. Furthermore, in someembodiments, the system may detect, and provide external visual andaudio alerts, when a passenger enters into the Paid Area without a validpermit for travel. The system may also detect, and provide externalvisual and audio alerts, when a passenger attempts to exit from the PaidArea without a valid permit for travel. Overall, passenger throughputinto and out of the Paid Area may be increased, especially during peakperiods, using the hands-free ticket validation and gateless entryapproaches disclosed herein.

In one embodiment, the present disclosure is directed to a method in amobile device to facilitate gateless entry for a transit service when auser carrying the mobile device approaches a transit facility for thetransit service. The method comprises: (i) determining that the mobiledevice is in proximity of a gateless entry location for the transitservice; (ii) transmitting a plurality of Bluetooth advertisementpackets to a gateway unit at a first transmission rate over a Bluetoothinterface, wherein each advertisement packet contains data indicatingthat the mobile device is configured for gateless entry for the transitservice; (iii) communicating with the gateway unit receiving theplurality of Bluetooth advertisement packets to facilitateauthentication of the mobile device; (iv) upon authentication of themobile device, transmitting transit data to the gateway unit using aplurality of Bluetooth data packets at a second transmission rate overthe Bluetooth interface, wherein the transit data includes: (a) adevice-specific value to uniquely identify the mobile device anddetermine a location thereof, and (b) a secure token to facilitatevalidation of an electronic ticket stored in the mobile device for thetransit service; and (v) informing the user to avail the transit servicethrough the gateless entry location. In one embodiment, the Bluetoothinterface may be a Bluetooth LE interface.

In another embodiment, the present disclosure is directed to a method tofacilitate gateless entry for a transit service when a user carrying amobile device approaches a transit facility for the transit service. Themethod comprises performing the following using a control unit: (i)authenticating the mobile device using Bluetooth-based messaging withthe mobile device over a Bluetooth interface; (ii) upon authenticationof the mobile device, receiving transit data from the mobile device overthe Bluetooth interface, wherein the transit data includes: (a) adevice-specific value to uniquely identify the mobile device anddetermine a location thereof, and (b) a secure token to facilitatevalidation of an electronic ticket stored in the mobile device for thetransit service; (iii) based on the secure token, determining that theelectronic ticket is valid for transit; (iv) providing thedevice-specific value to a positioning unit to enable the positioningunit to uniquely identify the mobile device and determine the locationthereof; (v) receiving a timestamped location data for the mobile devicefrom the positioning unit; (vi) based on the timestamped location data,determining that the user is entering a gateless entry point for thetransit service; and (vii) allowing the user to avail the transitservice through the gateless entry point. In one embodiment, theBluetooth interface may be a Bluetooth LE (BLE) interface.

In a further embodiment, the present disclosure is directed to a mobiledevice that comprises: (i) a transceiver operable to wirelesslycommunicate over a Bluetooth interface; (ii) a memory for storingprogram instructions and an electronic ticket; and (iii) a processorcoupled to the transceiver and to the memory. In the mobile device, theprocessor is operable to execute the program instructions, which, whenexecuted by the processor, cause the mobile device to perform thefollowing to facilitate entry for a transit service when a user carryingthe mobile device approaches a transit facility for the transit service:(a) determine that the mobile device is in proximity of an entrylocation for the transit service; (b) transmit a plurality of Bluetoothadvertisement packets to a gateway unit at a first transmission rateover the Bluetooth interface using the transceiver, wherein eachadvertisement packet contains data indicating that the mobile device isconfigured for entry for the transit service; (c) using the transceiver,communicate with the gateway unit receiving the plurality of Bluetoothadvertisement packets to facilitate authentication of the mobile device;(d) upon authentication of the mobile device, transmit transit data tothe gateway unit using a plurality of Bluetooth data packets at a secondtransmission rate over the Bluetooth interface using the transceiver,wherein the transit data includes: (1) a device-specific value touniquely identify the mobile device and determine a location thereof,and (2) a secure token to facilitate validation of the electronic ticketstored in the mobile device for the transit service; and (e) inform theuser to avail the transit service through the entry location. In oneembodiment, the Bluetooth interface may be a BLE interface. In anotherembodiment, the entry location may be a gateless entry location. In afurther embodiment, the entry location may be a gated entry location.

In yet another embodiment, the present disclosure is directed to asystem to facilitate entry for a transit service when a user carrying amobile device approaches a transit facility for the transit service. Thesystem comprises: (i) a gateway unit; (ii) a positioning unitoperatively coupled to the gateway unit; and (iii) a controller unitoperatively coupled to the gateway unit and the positioning unit. In thesystem, the gateway unit is operable to perform the following: (a)authenticate the mobile device using Bluetooth-based messaging with themobile device over a Bluetooth interface; (b) upon authentication of themobile device, receive transit data from the mobile device over theBluetooth interface, wherein the transit data includes: (1) adevice-specific value to uniquely identify the mobile device anddetermine a location thereof, and (2) a secure token to facilitatevalidation of an electronic ticket stored in the mobile device for thetransit service; (c) provide the device-specific value to thepositioning unit; and (d) provide the secure token to the controllerunit. In the system, the positioning unit is operable to perform thefollowing: (a) uniquely identify the mobile device and determine thelocation thereof based on the device-specific value received from thegateway unit; and (b) send a timestamped location data for the mobiledevice to the controller unit. Furthermore, in the system, thecontroller unit is operable to perform the following: (a) based on thesecure token received from the gateway unit, determine that theelectronic ticket is valid for transit; (b) based on the timestampedlocation data received from the positioning unit, determine that theuser is entering an entry point for the transit service; and (c) allowthe user to avail the transit service through the entry point. In oneembodiment, the Bluetooth interface may be a BLE interface. The entrypoint may be a gateless entry point or a gated entry point.

The mobile device and the controller unit may perform variousoperational aspects briefly mentioned above and further discussed inmore detail later below.

Thus, the Bluetooth-based fare validation methodology as per teachingsof the present disclosure may improve the passenger throughput through afare gate by allowing the passenger to simply walk through the fare gate“hands free” so long as they have a valid, active ticket on their mobiledevice. Furthermore, the Bluetooth-based gateless entry/exit facilitymay provide additional improvement in passenger throughput in a gatelesstransit environment where fare gates may be absent or non-operational.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the following section, the present disclosure will be described withreference to exemplary embodiments illustrated in the figures, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates constituent components of a Fare Validation (FV)application according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 2 depicts an exemplary system for implementing the FV applicationaccording to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 shows an exemplary flowchart illustrating a mobile device-basedhands-free fare validation methodology according to one embodiment ofthe present disclosure;

FIG. 4 shows an exemplary flowchart illustrating a controller unit-basedhands-free fare validation methodology according to one embodiment ofthe present disclosure;

FIG. 5 shows an exemplary illustration of system components to implementthe hands-free fare validation methodology at a transit stationaccording to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a simplified illustration of a fare validation zone (or a faregate trigger zone) according to one embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 7 is an exemplary context diagram for the FV user application inFIG. 1 according to particular embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 shows an exemplary context diagram for the FV controller driverin FIG. 1 according to particular embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9 shows an exemplary flowchart illustrating a mobile device-basedgateless entry methodology according to one embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 10 shows an exemplary flowchart illustrating a control unit-basedgateless entry methodology according to one embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 11 shows an exemplary illustration of system components toimplement a walk-in-walk-out configuration of gated or gatelessentry/exit at a transit station according to one embodiment of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 12 shows an exemplary illustration of system components toimplement a be-in-be-out configuration of gated or gateless entry/exitin a transit vehicle according to one embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 13 is a block diagram of an exemplary mobile device according toone embodiment of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 14 depicts a block diagram of an exemplary controller unitaccording to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are setforth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the disclosure.However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that thepresent disclosure may be practiced without these specific details. Inother instances, well-known methods, procedures, components and circuitshave not been described in detail so as not to obscure the presentdisclosure.

Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment” or “anembodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, orcharacteristic described in connection with the embodiment is includedin at least one embodiment of the present disclosure. Thus, theappearances of the phrases “in one embodiment” or “in an embodiment” or“according to one embodiment” (or other phrases having similar import)in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily allreferring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features,structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner inone or more embodiments. Also, depending on the context of discussionherein, a singular term may include its plural forms and a plural termmay include its singular form. Similarly, a hyphenated term (e.g.,“hands-free,” “hassle-free”, etc.) may be occasionally interchangeablyused with its non-hyphenated version (e.g., “hands free,” “hassle free”,etc.), and a capitalized entry (e.g., “Fare Validation Application,”“Fare Gate,” “Controller Unit,” etc.) may be interchangeably used withits non-capitalized version (e.g., “fare validation application,” “faregate,” “controller unit,” etc.). Such occasional interchangeable usesshall not be considered inconsistent with each other.

It is noted at the outset that the terms “coupled,” “operativelycoupled,” “connected”, “connecting,” “electrically connected,” etc., areused interchangeably herein to generally refer to the condition of beingelectrically/electronically connected in an operative manner. Similarly,a first entity is considered to be in “communication” with a secondentity (or entities) when the first entity electrically sends and/orreceives (whether through wireline or wireless means) informationsignals (whether containing address, data, or control information)to/from the second entity regardless of the type (analog or digital) ofthose signals. It is further noted that various figures (includingcomponent diagrams) shown and discussed herein are for illustrativepurpose only, and are not drawn to scale.

The terms “first,” “second,” etc., as used herein, are used as labelsfor nouns that they precede, and do not imply any type of ordering(e.g., spatial, temporal, logical, etc.) unless explicitly defined assuch. Furthermore, items or features appearing in different figures maybe identified using the same reference numeral for ease of discussion.However, such identification does not imply that the commonly-referenceditems/features are identical across all embodiments.

FIG. 1 illustrates constituent components of a Fare Validation (FV)application 10 according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentdisclosure. The FV application 10 may be a software module havingvarious distributed data processing functionalities discussed laterbelow with reference to FIGS. 2-12. Some portion of data processing orcomputations may be performed locally in a mobile device whereas someother portion of data processing may be performed on a controller unit.The FV application 10 according to one embodiment of the presentdisclosure may include an FV User Application (user app) component 12and an FV Controller Driver component (controller driver) 14. The userapp and controller driver components may be in bi-directionalcommunication (preferably wireless, as discussed below with reference toFIG. 2) with each other, and may together provide the hands-free farevalidation and gateless entry/exit functionalities as discussed laterbelow. It is noted here that, for ease of discussion, a computersoftware, program code or module may be referred to as “performing,”“accomplishing,” or “carrying out” a function or process. However, it isevident to one skilled in the art that such performance may betechnically accomplished by a processor when the software or programcode is executed by the processor. The program execution would cause theprocessor to perform the tasks or steps instructed by the software toaccomplish the desired functionality or result. However, for the sake ofconvenience, in the discussion below, a processor or software componentmay be referred to interchangeably as an “actor” performing the task oraction described, without technically dissecting the underlying softwareexecution mechanism.

It is noted here that the embodiments in FIGS. 2-8 relate to theBLE-based hands-free fare validation methodology, whereas theembodiments in FIGS. 9-12 relate to the BLE-based fare gate-agnosticentry/exit methodology applicable to transit systems that have faregates or are completely/partially gateless. Thus, no discussion ofgateless entry/exit aspect is provided in the context of description ofFIGS. 2-8 below. Similarly, no discussion of the fare validation aspectis provided in the context of description of FIGS. 9-12. It isunderstood, however, that the fare validation approach discussed inFIGS. 2-8 remains applicable—albeit with suitable modifications, asneeded—to the gateless (or gated) entry/exit methodologies discussedwith reference to FIGS. 9-12. Furthermore, the configurations in theembodiments of FIGS. 9-12 allow for additional fraud detection forgateless systems.

FIG. 2 depicts an exemplary system 16 for implementing the FVapplication 10 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.The system 16 may include a mobile device 17 that is in wirelesscommunication with a controller unit 18, as symbolically illustrated bya wireless link 20. As discussed later below, the wireless link 20 maybe a Bluetooth-based communication interface. The FV user app 12 mayreside in the mobile device 17, whereas the FV controller driver 14 mayreside at the controller unit 18 as shown in FIG. 2. It is noted herethat the terms “mobile device,” “mobile handset,” “wireless handset,”and “User Equipment (UE)” may be used interchangeably hereinbelow torefer to a wireless communication device that is capable of voice and/ordata communication. Some examples of such mobile handsets includecellular telephones or data transfer equipments, tablets, andsmartphones (e.g., iPhone™, Android™, Blackberry™, etc.). In certainembodiments, such as, for example, the embodiments in FIGS. 9-12, a BLEtag may be considered a “mobile device” or “mobile handset” as mentionedlater below. It is observed here that, for ease of discussion, thecontroller unit 18 is shown as a separate device or apparatus. However,the controller unit 18 may not have to be a separate computing unit (inhardware or software form) dedicated to carry out the fare validationfunctionality. In one embodiment, the functionality of the controllerunit 18 may be implemented in an already-existing physicalcomputing/data processing unit or (non-physical) server software (notshown) at a transit station. In another embodiment, the functionality ofthe controller unit 18 may be accomplished using multiple differentunits.

As shown in FIG. 2, the UE 17 may include, inside its housing (notshown), a relatively low-powered Central Processing Unit (CPU) 22executing a mobile operating system (or mobile OS) 24 (e.g., Symbian™OS, Palm™ OS, Windows Mobile™, Android™ Apple iOS™, etc.). Because ofthe battery-powered nature of mobile handsets, the CPU 22 may bedesigned to conserve battery power and, hence, may not be as powerful asa full-functional computer or server CPU. As further shown in FIG. 2, inaddition to the user app 12, the UE 17 may also have one or more mobileapplications 26 resident therein. These mobile applications 26 aresoftware modules that may have been pre-packaged with the handset 17 ormay have been downloaded by a user into the memory (not shown) of the UE17. Some mobile applications 26 may be more user-interactiveapplications (e.g., a mobile game of chess to be played on the UE 17, aface recognition program to be executed by UE 17, etc.), whereas someother mobile applications may be significantly less user-interactive innature (e.g., UE presence or location tracking applications, a ticketingapplication). The mobile applications 26 as well as the user app 12 maybe executed by the processor 22 under the control of the mobileoperating system 24. As also shown in FIG. 2, the UE 17 may furtherinclude a wireless interface unit 28 to facilitate UE's wirelesscommunication with the controller unit 18 (discussed later) via aBluetooth interface such as, for example, a Bluetooth LE (or Bluetooth)interface 29. In particular embodiments, the wireless interface unit 28may also support other types of wireless connections such as, forexample, a cellular network connection, a Wi-Fi connection, and thelike. The applications 12, 26 may utilize the wireless interface 28 asneeded.

It is noted here that the Bluetooth LE interface 29 is shown by way ofan example only; the teachings of the present disclosure are not limitedto a BLE interface alone. Thus, although the discussion below mayfrequently refer to a BLE interface, it is understood that suchdiscussion remains applicable to other Bluetooth technologies as well,such as, for example, the Bluetooth technologies that comply with one ormore Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) standards. The hands-freefare validation solution as per teachings of the present disclosure maybe implemented using a number of Bluetooth specifications, includingBLE. Hence, the usage of the terms “BLE” or “Bluetooth LE” in thediscussion below should be considered as a representative of (andinclusive of) the more general term “Bluetooth” or other non-BLE basedBluetooth technologies. Additionally, in certain embodiments, theBluetooth-based proximity detection discussed below may be modified suchthat proximity may be detected using Bluetooth in conjunction with WiFiand/or cellular data connections, or some combination thereof. Thus, forexample, a hybrid approach to proximity detection may use both WiFi andBluetooth to detect where a person is at. The Bluetooth-based discussionbelow encompasses such variations and combinations, but each such hybridapproach is not discussed in detail for the sake of brevity.

In the embodiment of FIG. 2, the controller unit 18 is shown to includea relatively high powered CPU 30 executing an operating system 32 (e.g.,Windows™, Mac™ OSX, Linux, etc.). In addition to the controller driver14, the controller unit 18 may also store in its memory (not shown)other controller-specific applications 34 such as, for example, anapplication that facilitates NFC or Ethernet-based communication with anentry gate system (discussed later with reference to FIG. 5), anapplication that facilitates communication with a “people counting”device (also discussed later), an application that interacts with abackend system, and the like. The controller 18 may wirelesslycommunicate with the UE 17 via its own wireless interface unit 36. Theinterface units 28, 36 may wirelessly transfer data or informationbetween the mobile device 17 and the controller 18 using the Bluetoothinterface 29 as shown. Thus, in operation, a UE-generated signal may bewirelessly sent (using the wireless interface 28) over the Bluetoothinterface 29 to the controller unit 18 for further processing by its CPU30. Any response or other signal from the controller unit 18 can beprovided in the UE-recognized wireless format by the controller'swireless interface unit 36 and eventually delivered to UE's wirelessinterface 28 (and, hence, to the UE's processor 22 for furtherprocessing) via the Bluetooth interface 29. The resulting wireless“link” between the interfaces 28 and 36 is symbolically illustrated bythe bi-directional arrow 29. In particular embodiments, the wirelessinterface unit 36 may also support other types of wireless connectionssuch as, for example, a cellular network connection, a Wi-Fi connection,and the like. The applications 14, 34 may utilize the wireless interface36 as needed. It is observed here that, in particular embodiments, themobile device 17 and/or the controller unit 18 may be coupled to othernetworks (not shown) via a wired or wireless connection (whethercircuit-switched or packet-switched). Such networks may be voicenetworks, data networks, or both, and may include, for example, acellular network, the Internet, a Local Area Network (LAN), a PublicLand Mobile Network (PLMN), and the like.

FIG. 3 shows an exemplary flowchart 40 illustrating a mobiledevice-based hands-free fare validation methodology according to oneembodiment of the present disclosure. Various operational tasks shown inFIG. 3 may be performed by the mobile device 17 when the user app 12(and other relevant program code) is executed by the CPU 22. Initially,the mobile device 17 may receive a Bluetooth beacon signal (block 42).As discussed later, specific Bluetooth beacon signals may be transmittedas per teachings of the present disclosure for locating the presence ofa passenger in the fare validation zone (also referred to below as “faregate trigger zone”). Thus, based on the received beacon signal, themobile device 17 may determine that it is in the fare validation zone(block 43). In some embodiments, the mobile device can determine theproximity of a fare gate trigger zone based on geofence(s) and GPS data.At block 45, the mobile device 17 may transmit electronic ticketinformation stored in the mobile device (as discussed later below) to acontroller unit, such as the controller unit 18, at the transit station.The electronic ticket information may be transmitted over a Bluetoothinterface, such as the Bluetooth LE interface 29 between the mobiledevice 17 and the controller unit 18. At block 46, the mobile device 17may receive a ticket acceptance response from the controller unit 18over the Bluetooth interface 29 indicating that the electronic ticket isvalid for transit. In response, at block 47, the mobile device 17 mayinform the user/passenger—for example, via a visible and/or an audiblenotification—to continue towards an entry gate at the transit station ina hands-free manner. Thus, the ticket submission and ticket validationoperations may be performed without user involvement; a passenger is notrequired to search for their smartcards or mobile phones to validatetheir tickets.

FIG. 4 shows an exemplary flowchart 50 illustrating a controllerunit-based hands-free fare validation methodology according to oneembodiment of the present disclosure. Various operational tasks shown inFIG. 4 may be performed by the controller unit 18 when the controllerdriver 14 (and other relevant program code) is executed by the CPU 30.Initially, at block 52, the controller unit 18 may receive anotification that the user has entered the fare validation zone. In oneembodiment, such notification may be received from a “people counting”device such as, for example, a digital camera, connected to thecontroller unit 18 as discussed later with reference to FIG. 5. At block53, the controller unit 18 may identify the mobile device carried by theuser—such as the mobile device 17—based on the signals received from themobile device over a Bluetooth interface, such as the Bluetooth LEinterface 29. Upon identifying the mobile device 17 and establishing aBluetooth communication link with it, the controller unit 18 may receiveelectronic ticket information from the mobile device 17 over theBluetooth interface 29 (block 55). At block 57, the controller unit 18may determine that the electronic ticket is valid for transit. Asdiscussed later, in one embodiment, the controller unit 18 may send theelectronic ticket information to an entry control gate at the transitstation to check the validity of the ticket. If the submitted ticket isvalid and active, the controller unit 18 may receive a confirmationmessage from the entry control gate. At block 58, the controller unit 18may sent a ticket acceptance response to the mobile device 17 over theBluetooth interface 29. This informs the user/passenger (carrying themobile device 17) to continue towards an entry gate at the transitstation in a hands-free manner. In other words, a passenger is notrequired to search for his/her smartcard or mobile phone to validatehis/her ticket; the passenger can simply continue walking towards theentry gate because of the hands-free validation of the ticket throughthe interactions between the controller unit 18 and the passenger'smobile device 17.

FIG. 5 shows an exemplary illustration of system components to implementthe hands-free fare validation methodology at a transit station 60according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. Prior todiscussing the operational aspects of the system components in FIG. 5, abrief overview of exemplary hardware features of these components isprovided.

In particular embodiments, the mobile device 17 may be an Apple® iPhone4S, iPhone 6, or a newer model. In other embodiments, the mobile device17 may be a Google® Nexus 4, Nexus 5, or a newer model. In any event,the user app 12 may be configured to run on a variety of mobiledevices—Android-based, Apple iOS-based, or any other mobile operatingsystem-based. In particular embodiments, the mobile device 17 maysupport downloadable applications and Bluetooth LE 4.2 or higherprotocols (or other applicable Bluetooth protocols) for communications,including Bluetooth Beacon scanning. The mobile device 17 may include aUser Interface (UI) to facilitate various tasks in support of thehands-free fare validation. Such tasks may include, for example,purchase of an electronic ticket by the user, selection of the desiredticket from a group of pre-purchased tickets, intimation of acceptanceof the electronic ticket for transit, and the like.

In particular embodiments, the controller unit 18 may be a computer suchas, for example, a laptop or a desktop computer, a mobile device, atablet computer, a single-board computer, or a modular controller suchas a Raspberry Pi™ or Arduino™ unit. The controller unit 18 may supportsome or all of the following capabilities: a Bluetooth (including BLE)based radio communication, wired or wireless connectivity, UniversalSerial Bus (USB) connectivity, non-volatile storage such as flash ordisk storage, volatile storage using Random Access Memory (RAM) modules,Bluetooth LE 4.0 or higher stack (or other applicable Bluetoothprotocols), video or Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) display, NFC reader,and a data input device such as a keyboard. It is noted here that, incertain embodiments, there may be more than one controller unit 18installed at the transit station 60, such as, for example, when multiplefare gates (discussed below) are present and “managed” by differentcontroller units or when multiple wake-up beacons (discussed below) areassociated with different controller units. Generally, the number ofcontroller units or beacon transmitters (wake-up beacons or gatebeacons) may be implementation-specific.

The transit station 60 may optionally employ one or more Wake-Up beacontransmitters 62 for launching and preparing the user app 12 on themobile device 17 for proximity tracking. The number of wake-up beacons62 may be based upon field conditions. In particular embodiments, thewake-up beacon 62 may provide Bluetooth LE (BLE) (or other type ofBluetooth) beacon signals using an omnidirectional antenna (not shown).The beacon signals transmitted by the transmitter 62 may be compatiblewith proprietary Bluetooth beacon standards such as, for example, theiBeacon standard for Apple® systems and similar Bluetooth beaconstandards for Android™ systems. Thus, for iBeacon compatibility, forexample, the wake-up beacon transmitter 62 may be capable of advertisinga programmable 16-byte Universal Unique Identifier (UUID) along with a2-byte Major Number and a 2-byte Minor Number. The UUID may be used touniquely identify an object—for example, the beacon transmitter62—across the internet. The 16-bit Major Number may further subdivideiBeacons that have the same UUID. The 16-bit Minor Number may furthersubdivide iBeacons within the same Major Number.

As noted above, a UUID is a unique number. With regard to BLE, eachservice may be represented by a UUID. The 16-bit standardized BLE UUIDsallow for 65536 unique services. BLE also supports 128 bit UUID numbersfor custom services. A “service” can be almost anything such as, forexample, a heart monitor, a proximity sensor, a temperature probe, andso on. Additional information about UUIDs for various “services” may beobtained athttps://developer.bluetooth.org/gatt/services/Pages/ServiceHome.aspx.Although UUIDs are normally fixed, they may be dynamic in certainimplementations.

The wake-up transmitter 62 may be considered a “Bluetooth Beacon”because it periodically transmits a fixed message—a Beacon Identifier(ID)—using Bluetooth or Bluetooth LE. In particular embodiments, aBluetooth Beacon is usually incapable of receiving data. The Beacon IDmay provide transmitter-specific identification information that themobile operating system 24 may use to recognize the Bluetooth Beacon.For iBeacons, for example, the Beacon ID is the UUID along with themajor and minor numbers. It is observed here that the Bluetooth LE (alsoreferred to as “Bluetooth Smart”) is a wireless communication protocolthat permits short range (up to 30 meters) communications. Bluetooth LEfunctionality is found on many smartphones and tablets.

The beacons may be used for determining proximity of a mobile device toa particular location. Each beacons normally has a fixed ID, but, incertain implementations, a beacon can have a dynamic ID. With regard toBeacon IDs, the mobile device may read all of the beacon IDs transmittedin its vicinity. In certain embodiments, the beacon data (such as BeaconID), signal strength of the received beacon, and a timestamp value(associated with the received beacon) may be forwarded—such as, forexample, by the user app 12—over WiFi to another computer or host—suchas, for example, the controller unit 18—that determines the location ofthe mobile device 17. Thus, in particular embodiments, the user app 12in the mobile device 17 may “listen” to the beacons and then connectover WiFi to an application—such as, for example, the controller driver14—that determines location. In some other embodiments, the user app 12may connect to a different application to determine the location or mayitself determine the location and send the location information to thecontroller driver 14. Major beacon formats are supported by iOS™,Android™, and other mobile operating systems.

The transit station 60 may also employ two or more BLE (or other type ofBluetooth) Gate Beacons for locating a passenger in the Fare GateTrigger Zone (also referred to as the “fare validation zone”). Anexemplary fare gate trigger zone 85 is shown in FIG. 6 (discussedbelow). In FIG. 5, two Gate Beacons are shown using reference numerals“64” and “65”. Based upon the field conditions or to improve accuracy,more gate beacons may be installed as well. Operationally, the gatebeacons 64-65 are also Bluetooth Beacons and may be similar to thewake-up beacon 62, except that each gate beacon 64-65 may have a highlyunidirectional external antenna (not shown) to specifically “track” thepassengers who are present in the fare validation zone.

In one embodiment, all Bluetooth® communications between variousentities in FIG. 5 may conform to the standards set forth in theBluetooth® Core Specification 4.2.

The transit station 60 may have a number of “people counting” devices67-68 to determine when a person has entered the fare validation zone.In one embodiment, the “people counting” devices may includestereoscopic digital Infrared (IR) cameras. In some embodiments, thecameras 67-68 may be wirelessly connected to the controller unit 18 tonotify the controller 18 when a person has entered the fare validationzone. In other embodiments, there may be an Ethernet-based connectivitybetween the controller unit 18 and the “people counting” devices 67-68.Furthermore, to prevent “tailgating,” the devices 67-68 may beconfigured to distinguish between one person and more than one person inthe fare gate trigger zone.

An entry gate system 70 (also referred to herein as a “Fare Gate”) maybe deployed at the transit station 60 to function as anelectronically-controlled access barrier. One fare gate is shown in FIG.5 by way of an example. Many transit stations may have multiple suchfare gates. In one embodiment, a fare gate may be a physical accessbarrier that is intended to permit only properly-ticketed passengersthrough into the “Paid Area,” which may be a secured area that isdesignated for paying passengers. In one embodiment, the fare gate 70may be directly connected to the controller unit 18 via an Ethernetinterface 72. In some embodiments, a standard Power Over Ethernet (POE)switch (or hub) may be used to facilitate multiple Ethernet connectionsor field conditions. A standard RJ-45 connector may be used to providethe Ethernet-based network connectivity between the controller unit 18and the fare gate 70. In certain embodiments, the fare gate may be avirtual barrier, such as, for example, in case of a bus where such avirtual barrier may be used in conjunction with a controller unit as perteachings of the present disclosure to afford hands-free entry to thepassengers wishing to board the bus. In other words, the physicalbarrier-based illustration in FIG. 5 is exemplary only; the teachings ofthe present disclosure are not limited to a physical gate barrier beingpresent, as discussed below with reference to the gateless entry/exitaspect in the embodiments of FIGS. 9-12.

On the other hand, in some embodiments, the controller unit 18 may usean NFC interface 74 to initiate a transaction with the fare gate 70.However, as noted before, an NFC interface may not support a fullyhands-free transaction. An NFC interface may be primarily used where,for business or technical reasons, a fare gate that supports NFC cannotbe easily modified to support direct connectivity with the controllerunit 18 for completely hands-free fare validation. Thus, if the faregate can be modified to support direct transaction initiation viaanother interface—such as, for example, an Ethernet based LAN—then theNFC interface may be eliminated. Hence, the NFC interface 74 is showndotted in FIG. 5. It is observed that, in particular embodiments, theremay be two NFC interfaces associated with the entry gate system 70—anNFC interface 76 at the entrance of the “Paid Area” and an NFC interface77 at the exit from the “Paid Area.” In one embodiment, the RadioFrequency (RF) protocol between the NFC interface 74 and the fare gate70 may be ISO (International Standards Organization) 14443-2 compliant.More generally, the ISO 14443-2 standard defines the RF communicationsbetween RFID based devices such as contactless smartcards and anotherdevice (such as a fare gate).

On the hardware side, the fare gate 70 may include a fare gatecontroller (not shown), which may be a microcontroller with appropriatelogic to act as a fare gate. In one embodiment, the fare gate 70 mayinclude some of all of the following: memory to store the controlprogram and associated data; an NFC reader/writer; other media readers(optional); an Ethernet network hub or switch; a local display (LCD orsimilar) for each side—entry and exit; speaker(s); and remote displaycapability. Furthermore, in certain embodiments, the fare gate 70 mayhave an “Enter” indicator on its entry side and a “Don't Enter”indicator on its exit side.

Although not shown in FIG. 5, the transit station 60 may also have oneor more remote displays—for example, displays hanging over the fare gateentrance and exit. When passengers are moving quickly through a faregate, these displays provide visual feedback to the users, such as, forexample, a confirmation that their electronic ticket is valid andaccepted and, hence, they should continue moving to the transit terminalor “Paid Area.” In particular embodiments, these remote displays mayserve as user interfaces to allow the fare gate to indicate both normaland exceptional operating conditions to passengers and stationpersonnel. For example, the remote display may have the ability todisplay a message when there is a valid transaction and accompany themessage with a “valid transaction” sound. Similarly, the faregate-affiliated user interface may have the ability to display a messagewhen there is an invalid transaction attempt (such as, for example,submission of an invalid or expired ticket) and accompany the messagewith an “invalid transaction” sound. In some embodiments, the remotedisplays may have the ability to indicate the direction in which thefare gate is operating. For example, an “Entry” gate may have a redindicator visible from the “Paid Area” side and a blue or greenindicator may be visible from the “Unpaid Area” side. The “paid” and“unpaid” areas are shown in the exemplary illustration of FIG. 6.

In the embodiment of FIG. 5, a transaction logger or backend system 80is shown to be in wireless communication with the entry gate system 70.In one embodiment, the backend system 80 may be a proprietary dataprocessing system owned, operated, maintained, or controlled by therelevant transit authority or by the operator of the fare gate 70 at thetransit station 60. Various transactions and events (discussed later)may be logged in the transaction logger 80, for example, for statisticalanalysis, record-keeping, and Operations and Maintenance (O&M) activity.In certain embodiments, the entry gate system 70 may communicate withthe back-end system 80 using a wired connection.

In particular embodiments, the FV user app 12 installed in the mobiledevice 17 may support two modes of operation: (i) a Mobile Ticketingmode, and (ii) a Fare Gate Transaction mode. The system designer maydetermine whether the functionality offered by these modes is accessiblefrom the same screen or requires selection of a menu item or clicking onan appropriate radio button from the choices presented on the displayscreen of the mobile device 17.

In the mobile ticketing mode, the user app 12 may allow the user of themobile device 17 to select and purchase a wide range of ticket types tonumerous destinations using a mobile ticketing application provided by,for example, the transit station operator or train/bus service operatingcompany. The user app 12 may further allow the user to see whichtransport tickets are electronically stored on the user's mobile device17. The user may initially have to deploy the mobile ticketing app onhis/her mobile device 17 to avail of the electronic ticketingfunctionality. A user interface may be provided to enable the user toselect and add a valid electronic ticket to the inventory of ticketsstored on the device 17. The user may also pay for the selected ticketonline and the transit service (for example, train service or busservice) operator may confirm the purchase with a unique code, digitalcoupon, or electronic ticket itself. In one embodiment, any of theseforms of “receipt” of purchase may be later used by the mobile device 17for hands-free fare validation. The user may enter the mobile ticketingmode via an appropriate menu selection. Once in the ticketing mode, theuser may press a corresponding on-screen/off-screen button for adding aticket and the displayed count of valid tickets increases by one. Incertain embodiments, the user may need to setup an online account withthe transit service operator for automatic billing and payment facility,as well as for recurring ticket purchases. For the sake of presentdiscussion, additional details of ticket generation, purchase, anddelivery are not relevant and, hence, such details are not provided.

In the fare gate transaction mode, the user app 12 may allow the user to“tender” and activate a valid electronic ticket (stored on the mobiledevice 17) by simply passing through the entry gate (fare gate) system70. Thus, the fare gate transaction mode may facilitate hands-free farevalidation. In one embodiment, if the user account information is storedin a remote Host Operator or Processing System (HOPS), such as, forexample, the backend system 80 in FIG. 5, and if Internet-connectivityis available near the fare gate area, the user app 12 may retrieve suchinformation from the remote host and make it available to the fare gate70 through communication with the controller driver 14 in the controllerunit 18. However, if online connection to the remote host is notpossible, the user app 12 may still provide hands-free fare validationas discussed below.

In one embodiment, the user may activate the user app 12 on the user'smobile device 17 prior to or at the time of entering/approaching thetransit station 60. The user app 12 may then configure the mobile device17 to enable scanning for Bluetooth beacons transmitted by the wake-upbeacon 62. The user app 12 may then identify those Bluetooth beaconsthat have a specific UUID or other recognizable Beacon ID to, forexample, ascertain that the received beacon signal is from an authorizedBluetooth transmitter and, hence, to conclude that the user device 17 isin the proximity of the authorized transmitter and, hence, near the farevalidation zone. In one embodiment, based on the identified beacon ID(received from the wake-up beacon 62), the user app 12 may activate thehands-free fare validation feature in the mobile device 17. In responseto determining that the mobile device 17 is in or near the fare gatetrigger zone (the fare validation zone), the user app 12 may configurethe mobile device 17 to send binary data of a specified size to the FVcontroller driver 14 in the controller unit 18. The size of thetransmitted data may be based on the Bluetooth LE (or other Bluetooth)protocol used to communicate with the controller driver 14. The binarydata may be used to send requests to the controller driver 14 to performspecific operations such as, for example, electronic ticket validationwith the fare gate 70. The user app 12 may also receive binary data of aspecified size from the controller driver 14. Such data may include, forexample, a ticket confirmation/acceptance message or an invalidticket/rejection message. When a ticket is accepted by the fare gate,the user app 12 may update the ticket information stored on the mobiledevice 17 to indicate that the specified ticket has been used. The userapp 12 may also send a log message to the controller driver 14, forexample, to enable the driver 14 to keep a count of number of users withvalid or invalid electronic tickets. More generally, the user app 12 maybe able to open and close a Bluetooth (or BLE) communication sessionwith the controller driver 14, as needed.

In one embodiment, the user app 12 may display a message or othervisible notification on the mobile device 17 to inform the user that theuser's electronic ticket has been accepted or rejected, as applicable.Instead of or in addition to such visible notification, the user app 12may also provide an audible notification—such as, for example, play avalid transaction sound or an error sound—to the user through the mobiledevice 17. The error sound may be specifically associated with an errorcondition, such as, for example, an invalid/expired ticket or noelectronic ticket stored in the mobile device 17.

In particular embodiments, the FV controller driver 14 installed in thecontroller unit 18 also may support two modes of operation: (i) aTransit Control mode, and (ii) a Maintenance mode. A systemadministrator or other transit service employee may be allowed to placethe controller unit 18 in the appropriate mode of operation. In certainembodiments, the maintenance mode may be omitted.

In the transit control mode, the controller driver 14 may configure thecontroller unit 18 to initiate a ticket transaction with the fare gate70, and obtain a transaction response from the fare gate. As part of thefare validation transaction, the controller driver 14 may be able todetect the entry of a passenger into the fare validation zone. In oneembodiment, the driver 14 may also detect the exit of a passenger fromthe fare gate trigger zone. In one embodiment, such entry and exit maybe determined based on information received from the “people counting”devices 67-68. Furthermore, the controller driver 14 may be able toidentify the mobile device that has entered the fare gate trigger zone(and the device's proximity to the fare gate) based on the signalsreceived from the mobile device over the Bluetooth interface 29 (FIG.2). In response, the driver 14 may send binary data to the mobiledevice-based user app and also receive binary data from the userapp—such as the user app 12 operational on the mobile device 17. Asnoted before, the binary data received from the mobile device 17 mayinclude electronic ticket information, which the controller driver 14may send to the fare gate system 70 for validation. Upon receiving aconfirmation message from the entry gate system 70, the controllerdriver 14 may send a ticket acceptance response to the user app 12 overthe Bluetooth interface 29, thereby informing the user of the mobiledevice 17 that the electronic ticket is valid for transit and the usermay continue proceeding towards the entry gate 70 in a hands-freemanner. On the other hand, if the submitted ticket is not accepted bythe fare gate 70—for example, if the ticket is invalid or expired, thecontroller driver 14 may send a ticket rejection message to the user app12 over the Bluetooth interface 29, thereby instructing the mobiledevice 17 to generate an alert for the user. In one embodiment, aftervalidating or rejecting an electronic ticket, the controller driver 14may close the existing communication session with the mobile device 17.

The controller driver 14 may be configured to store a log message forevery transit control-related transaction it performs and the log datamay be stored either locally in the controller unit 18 or remotely, forexample, in the transaction logging system 80 (FIG. 5), subject todevice storage constraints.

In the maintenance mode, the controller driver 14 may gather statisticsto help improve the fare validation methodology or to aid administratorsor service personnel from the transit company in their implementation ofthe fare validation approach. In the maintenance mode, the controllerdriver 14 may provide two sub-modes of operation: (i) Display CurrentActivity: This sub-mode allows display of the incoming data; and (ii)Display Statistics: This sub-mode allows display of statisticsassociated with the usage of the fare validation methodology as perparticular embodiments of the present disclosure.

When a registered beacon is detected by the user app 12, it may sharethe Beacon ID and the mobile device's proximity information with thecontroller driver 14. In the Display Current Activity sub-mode, thecontroller driver 14 may display the Beacon ID and the proximityinformation. In one embodiment, the driver 14 may also log the Beaconinformation. In another embodiment, the driver 14 may disable suchlogging. Thus, when Beacon logging has been enabled and a registeredbeacon is detected, the Beacon ID and proximity information may belogged either locally or remotely, subject to device storageconstraints.

To aid the transit service administrators, the controller driver 14 maykeep statistics in any mode of operation. However, in particularembodiments, the statistics may be displayed only when in the DisplayStatistic sub-mode. The statistical information that may be displayedinclude, for example: (i) operational statistics, (ii) a count of thenumber of passengers entering through the fare gate into the “Paid Area”with a valid ticket while in the “Open Gate” mode (discussed later),(iii) a count of the number of passengers entering through the fare gateinto the “Paid Area” with a valid ticket while in the “Closed Gate” mode(discussed later), (iv) a count of the number of passengers enteringthrough the fare gate into the “Paid Area” without a valid ticket whilein the “Open Gate” mode, (v) a count of the number of passengersentering through the fare gate into the “Paid Area” without a validticket while in the “Closed Gate” mode, (vi) a count of the number ofpassengers exiting through the fare gate into the “Unpaid Area” while inthe “Open Gate” mode, and (vii) a count of the number of passengersexiting through the fare gate into the “Unpaid Area” while in the“Closed Gate” mode. All statistical counts may be reset to zero.

It is observed here that the fare gate 70 may be setup either has an“Entry” gate or an “Exit” gate. Thus, the maintenance personnel may needto indicate the “direction” of the fare gate (for example, an “Entry”gate or an “Exit” gate) to the controller driver 14. Furthermore, incertain embodiments, the maintenance personnel may also need to specifyto the controller driver 14 whether the fare gate 70 is operating in the“Open Gate” mode or the “Closed Gate” mode.

FIG. 6 is a simplified illustration of a fare validation zone (alsoreferred to herein as a “fare gate trigger zone”) 85 according to oneembodiment of the present disclosure. Broadly, the fare validation zone85 may refer to the area within or near the fare gate 70 where thepresence of the mobile device 17 indicates its user's intent to pay afare and proceed to the actual transit terminal. By way of anillustration, the fare gate 70 is shown as a dotted block in FIG. 6. Asshown in the exemplary illustration of FIG. 6, a user may approach thefare gate trigger zone 85 from an entry lane or “Unpaid Area” 87 at thetransit station 60 (FIG. 5). An “unpaid area” may be an unsecured areaof the transit station 60 where normal non-paying pedestrian trafficoccurs. In contrast, when a user's electronic ticket submission isaccepted by the fare gate system 70 as discussed before, the user maytransition to a “Paid Area” 88 at the station 60. From the “paid area,”the user may proceed to boarding the appropriate transit service (forexample, a train or a bus).

The fare gate 70 may be operated in an “open gate” mode or in a “closedgate” mode. In the “open gate” mode, the fare gate 70 may be abarrier-less system. For example, during peak hours when the passengervolume warrants the presence of inspectors (or other service personnel)at the transit station 60, the fare gate (physical) barriers may be leftopen and the passengers may pass through the gates quickly in a singlefile. A remote sign for each fare gate may display a message,accompanied by an audible alert, informing the user and the inspectorsshould the user not have a valid or detectable ticket. However, duringoff-peak times when the availability of inspectors is decreased and thepassenger volume does not hinder throughput, the fare gate barriers maybe closed (or brought back in their place), thereby operating the faregate 70 in the “closed gate” mode.

In certain embodiments, there may be four different transit situations:(1) A user enters the “paid area” 88 when the fare gate 70 is in the“open gate” mode, (2) a user enters the “paid area” 88 when the faregate 70 is in the “closed gate” mode, (3) a user exits from the “paidarea” 88 when the fare gate 70 is in the “open gate” mode, and (4) auser exits from the “paid area” 88 when the fare gate 70 is in the“closed gate” mode. Various operations discussed below with reference tothese transit situations are exemplary in nature, and may beaccomplished through interaction between the mobile device-based FV userapp 12 and the controller unit-based FV controller driver 14, as well asthe controller driver's further interaction with otherdevices/systems—such as, for example, the “people counting” devices, theentry gate system, and the like—at the transit station 60. In view ofthe earlier discussion of FIGS. 1-6, additional details of suchdevice-to-device interactions or communication are not provided below.

(1) Entry in the “Open Gate” mode: Initially, the user with the mobiledevice 17 may approach the fare gate 70 that is open for entry (forexample, “Entry OK” indicator lights are lit on the Unpaid Area side87).

If the user has a valid ticket, the user may simply walk through thegate hands-free and the remote display (not shown) may show a messageindicating that a valid ticket was tendered and a “Ticket Accepted” beepmay be emitted from the fare gate's speakers (not shown). The user'smobile device 17 may also display a notification indicating that theticket was tendered and accepted. The mobile device may also emit a“Ticket Accepted” beep and a corresponding vibration pattern. The userapp 12 may decrease the count of valid tickets stored on the mobiledevice 17 by one.

If the user's mobile device does not have the FV User Application—likethe User App 12 in FIG. 1—loaded, then, upon entering the Fare GateTrigger Zone 85, the remote display may display a message informing theuser to either purchase a ticket or use a traditional ticket. This maybe accompanied by a loud “Invalid Entry Attempt” alert through the FareGate speakers.

On the other hand, if the user app is loaded on the user's mobiledevice, but there is no ticket or no valid ticket stored in the device,the remote display may show a “No Ticket Available” message and the FareGate speakers may emit the “No Ticket Available” alert sound. The usermay also receive a notification on the mobile device indicating that novalid tickets were available, accompanied by the corresponding audiblealert and vibration pattern.

In particular embodiments, altering of the user's cadence, such as, forexample, pausing to let the person ahead go through the fare gate beforeproceeding, may be necessary in the Open Gate mode.

(2) Entry in the “Closed Gate” mode: Initially, the user with the mobiledevice 17 may approach the fare gate 70 that is open for entry (forexample, “Entry OK” indicator lights are lit on the Unpaid Area side87).

If the user has a valid ticket, as the user enters the Fare Gate TriggerZone 85, the barrier (not shown) opens up and the user may simply walkthrough the gate hands-free. The remote display may show a messageindicating that a valid ticket was tendered and a “Ticket Accepted” beepmay be emitted from the Fare Gate's speakers. The user's mobile device17 may display a notification indicating that the ticket was tenderedand accepted. The mobile device may also emit a “Ticket Accepted” beepand a corresponding vibration pattern. The user app 12 may decrease thecount of valid tickets stored on the mobile device 17 by one.

If the user's mobile device does not have the FV User Application—likethe User App 12 in FIG. 1—loaded, then, upon entering the Fare GateTrigger Zone 85, the remote display may show a message informing theuser that the FV user app was not detected and that a traditional ticketshould be used. In that case, the fare gate barrier may remain closeduntil a valid ticket (electronic or traditional) is presented.

On the other hand, if the user app is loaded on the user's mobiledevice, but there is no ticket or no valid ticket stored in the device,the remote display may show a “No Ticket Available” message and the FareGate speakers may emit the “No Ticket Available” alert sound. The usermay also receive a notification on the mobile device indicating that novalid tickets were available, accompanied by the corresponding audiblealert and vibration pattern.

(3) Exit in the “Open Gate” mode: Initially, the user with the mobiledevice 17 may approach the fare gate 70 that is open for exiting (forexample, “Entry OK” indicator lights are lit on the Paid Area side 88).

If the user's mobile device has the FV user application loaded with avalid, active ticket, the user may simply walk through the fare gate andthe remote display may show, for example, a “Thanks for Traveling withUs” message. The user's mobile device may also display a notificationindicating that he or she has exited the system (or transit terminal).The mobile device may also emit an “Exiting” beep and a correspondingvibration pattern.

On the other hand, if the user's mobile device does not have the FV userapp loaded (or has it loaded but without a valid, active ticket) and ifthe user enters the Fare Gate Trigger Zone, a message on the remotedisplay may remind the user to use traditional media to “swipe out” forexit (if this is required by the transit service operator). This may beaccompanied by a loud “Invalid Entry Attempt” alert through the FareGate's speakers. In some embodiments, such remote display and speakerbased reminders/alerts also may be implemented in the “Open Gate” and“Closed Gate” entry modes (1) and (2), respectively, discussed above. Incertain embodiments, this “Invalid Entry Attempt” processing may alsooccur if the user's mobile device is not turned on (whether turned offby the user or as a result of a dead battery).

(4) Exit in the “Closed Gate” mode: Initially, the user with the mobiledevice 17 may approach the fare gate 70 that is open for exiting (forexample, “Entry OK” indicator lights are lit on the Paid Area side 88).

If the user's mobile device has the FV user application loaded, as theuser enters the Fare Gate Trigger Zone, the gate's barrier may open andthe user may walk through the gate to exit. The remote display may showa “Thanks for Traveling with Us” message. The user's mobile device mayalso display a notification indicating that he or she has exited thesystem (or transit terminal). The mobile device may also emit an“Exiting” beep and a corresponding vibration pattern.

On the other hand, if the user's mobile device does not have the FV userapp loaded and if the user enters the Fare Gate Trigger Zone, a messageon the remote display may remind the user to use traditional media to“swipe out” for exit (if this is required by the transit serviceoperator). In particular embodiments, the fare gate's barrier may remainclosed until a valid ticket (electronic or traditional) is presented. Insome embodiments, this kind of processing may also occur if the user'smobile device is not turned on (whether turned off by the user or as aresult of a dead battery).

It is noted that, typically, the fare gate 70 may be designated aseither an “Entry” fare gate or an “Exit” fare gate. The entry or exitdirection may be changed under the control of station personnel. Forexample, the gate 70 may be set in one direction in the morning as an“Entry” gate and as an “Exit” gate in the afternoon. However, if needed,the controller driver 14 may be configured to dynamically determine thedirection of the gate based upon the direction of passenger movement. Incertain embodiments, additional hardware (not shown), such as, forexample, motion sensors or cameras, may be provided at the transitstation 60 to assist the controller driver 14 in detection of suchdirection. Alternatively, the camera devices 67-68 may provide theneeded input to the controller driver 14 to enable the detection of thedirection of passenger movement.

In some embodiments, the controller driver 14 may operate in conjunctionwith suitable hardware to detect presence of more than one person at atime within the fare gate trigger zone 85. Furthermore, both the userapp 12 and the controller driver 14 may be configured to support maydifferent types of tickets based upon the class of service (for example,regular, senior citizen, student, transit company employee, and thelike), the time period (for example, peak time, off-peak time), andseasonal versus “pay-as-you-go” tickets. In certain embodiments, thecontroller driver 14 may be configured to detect if the same mobiledevice is used to tender tickets for more than one passenger. Such asituation may arise, for example, when a ticketed passengerpre-purchases more than one ticket and pays for a non-ticketed passengerby passing back the mobile device to the non-ticketed passenger afterthe ticketed passenger's ticket is validated.

FIG. 7 is an exemplary context diagram 95 for the FV user application 12in FIG. 1 according to particular embodiments of the present disclosure.FIG. 8 shows an exemplary context diagram 100 for the FV controllerdriver 14 in FIG. 1 according to particular embodiments of the presentdisclosure. The context diagram 95 illustrates exemplary external andinternal interfaces specific to the FV user app 12. Similar interfacesspecific to the controller driver 14 are shown in the context diagram100 of FIG. 8. For ease of discussion, FIGS. 7-8 are discussed togetherand the entities common between FIGS. 5 and 7-8 are identified using thesame reference numerals. Furthermore, because of the earlier detaileddiscussion of various operational aspects of the FV user app 12 and theFV controller driver 14, only a brief description of the data andcontrol flows shown in FIGS. 7-8 is provided. In the embodiments ofFIGS. 7-8, solid arrows depict data flows and dashed arrows depictcontrol flows. Furthermore, in FIGS. 7-8, blocks with solid lines—suchas the blocks 97-98—depict external interfaces, whereas blocks withdashed lines—such as the blocks 62 and 70—depict internal sub-systeminterfaces.

Referring now to FIGS. 7-8, the “Controller Messages” are the messagessent between the use app 12 and the controller driver 14. These messagesmay typically contain commands or data which will inform the controllerdriver 14 how close the mobile device 17 is to the fare gate 70. The“Controller Responses” are responses sent by the controller driver 14 tothe user app 12. The “Gate Beacon Advertising Packets” in FIG. 7 referto information sent from the gate beacon(s) 64-65. This information maybe used to detect the proximity of the mobile device 17 with the faregate 70. On the other hand, the “Wake-Up Beacon Advertising Packets” inFIG. 7 refer to information sent from the wake-up beacon(s) 62. Thisinformation may be used to get the user app 12 into a ready state forentering through a fare gate—such as the fare gate 70—that is enabledfor hands-free fare validation as per teachings of the presentdisclosure. In FIG. 7, the term “User Data In” refers to the data that auser 97 running the FV user app 12 (on the user's mobile device 17)enters through a user interface provided by the user app 12. On theother hand, the term “User Data Out” refers to the data that isdisplayed via the user interface to the user 97 running the FV user app12. The term “User Control” refers to the control information sent fromthe mobile device 17 running the FV user app 12.

Referring now to FIG. 8, the “People Counter Data” are the data sent tothe FV controller driver 14 by the people-counting devices 67-68 to aidin determining the number of people in the fare gate trigger zone 85.The “People Counter Control” is the control information for thepeople-counting device. This control information may include commands toenable or disable the sending of the “People Counter Data.” The “FG DataReq” is a fare gate data request and includes the data sent to the faregate 70 from the controller driver 14, typically during the processingof a transaction, such as, for example, a ticket validation transaction.The “FG Data Rsp” is a fare gate data response and includes the datareturned from the fare gate 70 during the transaction processing or upona command from the controller driver 14. The “FG Control” is the faregate control information.

If a fare gate communicates with the controller driver 14 via an NFCinterface, such as, for example, the NFC interface 74 shown in FIG. 5,then there may be an NFC reader/writer 102 present at the fare gate. TheNFC reader/writer 102 may communicate with the controller driver 14 viathe NFC interface 74. In certain embodiments, there may be individualNFC readers/writers for the entrance NFC interface 76 and the exit NFCinterface 77 in FIG. 5. The “NFC Data Req” are data requests sent to theNFC reader/writer 102, the “NFC Data Rsp” are responses received fromthe NFC reader/writer 102, and the “NFC Control” is the controlinformation associated with the NFC reader/writer 102 to facilitatevarious NFC-based transactions. In some embodiments, in addition to theNFC reader 102, there may be a barcode scanner (not shown) and amagnetic stripe reader (not shown) in communication with the controllerdriver 14 via a suitable interface.

If the controller driver 14 supports the earlier-discussed maintenancemode, a maintenance user 104—such as, for example, a service person oremployee of the transit station 60 or a transit company—may interactwith the system running the controller driver 14 to perform maintenancetasks. The controller unit 18 in FIG. 2 is an example of such a system.The system may provide a user interface to support maintenance-relatedcontent displays. In that regard, the “Maintenance User Data In” is thedata that the maintenance user 104 enters through the user interfacewhen in the maintenance mode, the “Maint. User Data Out” is the datathat is displayed to the maintenance user 104 when in the maintenancemode, and the “Maint. User Control” is the control information sent tothe controller driver 14 when in the maintenance mode.

Prior to discussing the embodiments in FIGS. 9-12, it is noted here thata BLE tag may be considered a “mobile device” or “mobile handset” usablein the embodiments of FIGS. 9-12, as mentioned earlier. In the contextof FIGS. 9-12, a BLE tag may operate in a manner similar to a mobiledevice such as a UE or a cell phone. For example, the BLE tag maytransmit BLE advertisement packets to a BLE gateway, advertise a uniqueID and/or a secure token to the device locators, and perform otheractions similar to a “typical” mobile device (such as a cell phone,smartphone, or UE) to facilitate the gateless entry/exit discussed withreference to FIGS. 9-12. Thus, although the discussion of FIGS. 9-12primarily focuses on the mobile device 17 being a “typical” UE,smartphone, or tablet, such discussion remains equally applicable whenthe mobile device 17 is a BLE tag. Furthermore, as noted before, thediscussion of FIGS. 9-12 is fare gate-agnostic. In other words, themethodologies discussed with reference to FIGS. 9-12 apply to a gatelessentry/exit location as well as a gated entry/exit location. Thus,although the discussion of FIGS. 9-12 primarily focuses on the gatelessentry/exit aspect, it is understood that such discussion remainsapplicable—albeit with suitable modifications, as needed—to the gatedentry/exit aspect as well. However, for the sake of brevity, thediscussion of FIGS. 9-12 is not repeated to cover the gated entry/exitaspects.

FIG. 9 shows an exemplary flowchart 108 illustrating a mobiledevice-based gateless entry methodology according to one embodiment ofthe present disclosure. Various operational tasks shown in FIG. 9 may beperformed by the mobile device 17 when the user app 12 (and otherrelevant program code) is executed by the CPU 22. It is noted that, theFV user app 12 may be suitably configured to provide the gatelessentry/exit functionality discussed in the context of the embodiments inFIGS. 9-12. Depending on the desired application, the user app 12 may beconfigured to support gateless entry/exit with or without the hands-freefare validation functionality. The operational tasks shown in FIG. 9 maybe performed by a mobile device to facilitate gateless entry for atransit service—like a bus service, a ferry service, a train service,and so on—when a user carrying the mobile device approaches a transitfacility for the transit service. As discussed later, the transitfacility may be a transit station or a transit vehicle itself.

Initially, at block 110, the mobile device 17 may determine that it isin proximity of a gateless entry location for a transit service. Asdiscussed in more detail later, in the context of the embodiments inFIGS. 9-12, the term “gateless entry location” may be used instead ofthe earlier-mentioned “fare gate trigger zone” (or “fare validationzone”) to emphasize the gateless entry/exit aspect instead of the farevalidation aspect. However, in particular embodiments, these terms maybe synonymous and may be interchangeably used. At block 112, the mobiledevice 17 may transmit a plurality of Bluetooth advertisement packets toa gateway unit over a Bluetooth interface, such as the Bluetooth LEinterface. As discussed later, the gateway unit may be at a stationarylocation, such as a transit station, or may be operated in a mobileenvironment, such as inside a transit vehicle. The advertisement packetsmay be transmitted at a first transmission rate and each packet maycontain data indicating that the mobile device is configured forgateless entry for the transit service. The mobile device 17 also maycommunicate with the gateway unit receiving the plurality of Bluetoothadvertisement packets to facilitate authentication of the mobile device(block 114). In one embodiment, the gateway unit itself may authenticatethe mobile device. In other embodiments, two or more system units mayjointly operate to authenticate the mobile device.

As noted at block 116, upon authentication, the mobile device 17 maytransmit transit data to the gateway unit using a plurality of Bluetoothdata packets over the Bluetooth interface, such as the BLE interface.The data packets may be transmitted at a second transmission rate,which, in some embodiments, may be higher than the first transmissionrate mentioned at block 112. In other embodiments, the first and thesecond transmission rates may be the same. In one embodiment, thetransit data may include: (i) a device-specific value to uniquelyidentify the mobile device and determine the location thereof, and (ii)a secure token to facilitate validation of an electronic ticket storedin the mobile device for the transit service. As discussed later, thedevice-specific value and the secure token may be processed by therelevant processing entities to authorize the user-carrying the mobiledevice to proceed to the “paid area” in a gateless entry environment.Subsequently, at block 118, the mobile device 17 may inform the user toavail the transit service through the gateless entry location. An alert(audible, visible, or audiovisual) or “OK for transit” or a similarmessage may be displayed on the mobile device (or played as an audioclip) to inform the user to continue proceeding into the transit vehicleor a designated boarding area (or “paid area”) for the transit servicein a gateless entry environment.

FIG. 10 shows an exemplary flowchart 120 illustrating a controlunit-based gateless entry methodology according to one embodiment of thepresent disclosure. In particular embodiments, the controller unit 18itself may operate as the control unit. In that case, variousoperational tasks shown in FIG. 10 may be performed by the controllerunit 18 when the controller driver 14 (and other relevant program code)is executed by the CPU 30. In other embodiments, the controller unit 18may operate in conjunction with other units (as discussed later withreference to the exemplary embodiments in FIGS. 11-12) to provide thefunctionality of the control unit in FIG. 10. In that case, thecontroller driver 14 may be suitably configured to accomplish thegateless entry functionality in a distributed manner. The operationaltasks shown in FIG. 10 may be performed by a control unit to facilitategateless entry for a transit service—like a bus service, a ferryservice, a train service, and so on—when a user carrying a mobiledevice, such as the mobile device 17, approaches a transit facility forthe transit service. As discussed later, the transit facility may be atransit station or a transit vehicle itself.

Initially, at block 122, the control unit may authenticate the mobiledevice using Bluetooth-based messaging with the mobile device over aBluetooth interface, such as a BLE interface. Upon authentication of themobile device, the control unit may receive transit data from the mobiledevice over the Bluetooth interface (block 124). In one embodiment, thetransit data may include: (i) a device-specific value to uniquelyidentify the mobile device and determine the location thereof, and (ii)a secure token to facilitate validation of an electronic ticket storedin the mobile device for the transit service. Based on the secure token,the control unit may determine that the electronic ticket is valid fortransit (block 126). As discussed later, in one embodiment, the controlunit may access a database containing a record of purchased tickets tovalidate the electronic ticket associated with the secure token receivedfrom the mobile device 17. At block 128, the control unit may providethe device-specific value (received at block 124) to a positioning unitto enable the positioning unit to uniquely identify the mobile device 17and determine the location of the mobile device 17. Thereafter, at block130, the control unit may receive a timestamped location data for themobile device 17 from the positioning unit. Based on the timestampedlocation data, the control unit may determine that the user (of themobile device 17) is entering a gateless entry point for the transitservice (block 132). Based on the earlier validation of the user'selectronic ticket (at block 126), the control unit may allow the user toavail the transit service through the gateless entry point, as noted atblock 134. In one embodiment, the control unit may actuate one or moreindicators prompting the user to avail the transit service through thegateless entry location. The indicators may include one or more audibleindicators, one or more visible signs/indicators, or both. This informsthe user (carrying the mobile device 17) to continue proceeding into thetransit vehicle or a designated boarding/paid area for the transitservice in a gateless entry environment.

FIG. 11 shows an exemplary illustration 136 of system components toimplement a walk-in-walk-out configuration of gated or gatelessentry/exit at a transit station (not shown) according to one embodimentof the present disclosure. On the other hand, FIG. 12 shows an exemplaryillustration 174 of system components to implement a be-in-be-outconfiguration of gated or gateless entry/exit in a transit vehicle (notshown) according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. Althoughthe configurations in FIGS. 11 and 12 are implemented in differentenvironments—stationary (FIG. 11) vs. mobile (FIG. 12), they aresubstantially similar in the sense that they employ essentially the sametype of system components, albeit in different environments, and alsoprovide substantially similar functionality to facilitate gateless entryas per teachings of the present disclosure. Therefore, for ease ofdiscussion, the system components common between the embodiments inFIGS. 11-12 are identified using the same reference numerals. It isunderstood, however, that, such common reference does not imply that theimplementations in FIGS. 11-12 are identical or interchangeable. Rather,as mentioned before, these two implementations are distinct and devisedfor different operating environments—stationary (FIG. 11) vs. mobile(FIG. 12).

Referring now to FIG. 11, the system components in the operatingconfiguration 136 may primarily include a Bluetooth gateway (such as aBLE gateway) 138; a positioning unit comprising a first set of devicelocators 140, a second set of device locators 142, and a positioningengine 144; at least one camera such as a three-dimensional (3D) camera146; a gateless entry controller 148; and a router such as an Ethernetrouter 150. In particular embodiments, the operating configuration 136also may optionally include at least one BLE (or other type ofBluetooth) wake-up beacon 152 and a database 154. In one embodiment, therouter 150 may be connected to or operatively/communicatively coupled tothe system components 138, 140, 142, 144, 146, and 148 via respectivewired connections, as shown by unbroken, bi-directional arrows in FIG.11. In particular embodiments, some or all of these wired connectionsmay be Ethernet connections. The router 150 also may be connected to theInternet 156 or a similar packet-switched (or IP) network through awired connection, such as an Ethernet connection. The entry controller148 may be coupled to or operatively connected to the database 154through a respective wired connection, such as an Ethernet connection.As discussed in more detail later, the BLE gateway 138 may communicatewith the mobile device 17 using a wireless connection, such as a BLEinterface, as indicated by a broken (dashed), bi-directional arrow 158in FIG. 11. Although not shown in FIG. 11, in certain embodiments, thewake-up beacon 152 and/or the controller 148 also may communicate withthe mobile device 17 using a wireless connection, such as a BLEconnection.

The system components in the operating configuration 174 of FIG. 12 aresimilarly identified, but not individually listed/mentioned here for thesake of brevity. Based on a comparison of FIGS. 11 and 12, it isobserved that the positioning unit in case of FIG. 12 may not includethe first set of device locators 140 because they may not be needed in atransit vehicle-based implementation in certain embodiments. In otherwords, less number of device locators may suffice for a transitvehicle-based implementation. Furthermore, it is noted that the numberand placement of components in FIGS. 11-12 are for illustration only. Indifferent embodiments, multiple devices of the same type—for example,multiple 3D cameras—may be needed depending on the desired coverage andphysical geometry of the area to be covered for gateless entryoperations.

Prior to discussing the hardware features and operational aspects of thesystem components in FIGS. 11-12, a brief overview of the distinctionsbetween a “walk-in-walk-out” (WiWo) configuration of FIG. 11 and a“be-in-be-out” (BiBo) configuration of FIG. 12 is provided. The WiWoconfiguration may be implemented in a stationary location—such as, forexample, a train station, a bus stop, a ferry dock, and so on—where atraditional “check-in-check-out” (CiCo) configuration is applicable. Ina traditional CiCo configuration, a user may be required to perform anaction—such as, for example, swipe fare media, present a barcode to abarcode reader, tap a contactless card, and the like—at least once toenter a paid area that allows boarding a transit vehicle, and the useralso may be required to perform an action to exit the paid area whenleaving the transit vehicle. In contrast, the WiWo configuration may beused without fare gates because the controller driver 14 in the gatelessentry controller 148 could track multiple users across a large area. Ina gateless WiWo system, the coverage area may need to have sufficientdevice locators—such as the locators 140, 142—as well as full 3D cameracoverage.

In contrast to a WiWo system, the BiBo configuration may be implementedin a mobile environment such as, for example, in trains, buses, ferries,or other transit vehicles. A BiBo system may be part of a gatelessenvironment and installed in a transit vehicle. In a BiBo system likethe one in the embodiment of FIG. 12, the device locators 142 and theBLE gateway 138 may be mounted physically inside the transit vehicle,whereas the BLE wake-up beacon 152 can be at the transit station or inthe transit vehicle. The inside area of the transit vehicle may need asufficient number of device locators 142 for proper coverage. Asdiscussed later, in a BiBo configuration, the boundaries of the “paidarea” may be the perimeter of the transit vehicle. The 3D camera(s) 146may be mounted at the entry/exit points of the transit vehicle with thecamera field-of-view covering the width of the passageway. The WiWo andBiBo arrangements shown in FIGS. 11-12, respectively, may be suitablymodified in particular use cases to accomplish the gateless entry/exitfunctionality in a given implementation environment—stationary vs.mobile—without departing from the teachings of the present disclosure.

Generally, in the WiWo configuration, a user may walk into and/or leavea pre-designated “paid area” in a gateless environment withoutperforming any action. The validation of the user's ticket may beperformed autonomously in the background without any manual interactionrequired by the user. Similarly, in the BiBo configuration for gatelessentry, the user may simply walk into a “paid area” without performingany action. In a BiBo system, a user's presence in the paid area may beconstantly monitored until the user exits the paid area. Like the WiWocase, the BiBo system also may perform the validation of the user'sticket autonomously in the background without any manual interaction bythe user.

Referring again to FIGS. 11-12, a brief description of the exemplaryhardware features of the system components shown therein is provided. Inparticular embodiments, the BLE wake-up beacon 152 may be functionallysimilar to the wake-up beacon 62 in FIG. 5 and, hence, additionaldiscussion of the hardware features of the wake-up beacon 152 is notprovided. Briefly, the wake-up beacon 152 may be a connectionless(wireless) BLE beacon that advertises data to indicate to a mobiledevice with the user app 12, such as the mobile device 17, that the user163 of the mobile device is approaching a hands-free ticketing platformthat has automatic fare validation and gateless entry/exit. Similarly,the 3D camera(s) 146 may be functionally substantially similar to one ormore of the “people counting devices” 67-68 and, hence, the hardwarefeatures of the 3D camera(s) 146 are not discussed in further detailshere. In some embodiments, however, the 3D camera 146 may be an infraredcamera that uses time-of-flight (TOF) technology to detect and trackobjects in the camera's field of view 160.

As mentioned before, in some embodiments, the controller 148 may operateas a “control unit” discussed with reference to the flowchart 120 inFIG. 10. However, in the embodiments of FIGS. 11-12, the BLE gateway 138and the entry controller 148 may collectively operate as a “controlunit” of FIG. 10 to accomplish the gateless entry/exit functionality asper teachings of the present disclosure. In one embodiment, thecontroller unit 148 may be functionally similar to the earlier-discussedcontroller unit 18 in FIGS. 2 and 5, except that the controller unit 148may include a modified version of the controller driver 14 to accomplishthe gateless entry/exit functionality associated with the embodiments inFIGS. 9-12 in addition to the hands-free fare validation functionalityoffered by the earlier-discussed controller unit 18. In certainembodiments, the gateway 138 may operate as a “client” whereas the entrycontroller 148 may operate as a “server” in a client-serverconfiguration. The gateway 138 may communicate with the controllerdriver 14 to authenticate the mobile device 17, receive a secure tokenfrom the mobile device 17, and set mobile device advertisementtransmission rate (discussed later). The gateway 138 may be a BLEgateway operable to wirelessly communicate with the mobile device 17through a BLE interface, as indicated by the broken arrow 158 in FIGS.11-12. In particular embodiments, the controller driver application 14may enable the gateless entry controller 148 to communicate withappropriate entities—for example, via the Ethernet router 150—shown inFIGS. 11-12 to collect the following data: (i) mobile device positioningdata from the positioning engine 144, (ii) person location data from the3D camera 146, and (iii) authentication data from the BLE gateway 138.The controller driver application 14 may further enable the gatelessentry controller 148 to use the collected data to validate that a user,such as the user 163 in FIGS. 11-12, has a valid ticket on the user'smobile device 17 and also to determine which user is attempting ingressinto a paid area. Thus, automatic fare validation and gateless entry (orexit, as applicable) aspects may be supported through the controllerdriver application 14 running on the entry controller 148.

In the embodiments of FIGS. 11-12, the database 154 may store varioustypes of digital content using a relational model of data organization.The relational database 154 may be developed, maintained and/or managedby a software system known as a Relational Database Management System(RDBMS). The RDBMS may maintain the database 154 as a field-searchabledatabase (DB) containing a plurality of different data fields that canbe searched by the controller 148—under operative control of thecontroller driver 14—using a query-response scheme based on, forexample, the Structured Query Language (SQL). Some examples of an RDBMSinclude an Oracle® server, a Microsoft® SQL server, a MySQL (opensource) system, and IBM® DB2 system, and so on. In particularembodiments, potential database fields may include some or all of thefollowing: (i) a data field for unique transit vehicle/stationidentifier, (ii) a data field for transit vehicle stop/route informationincluding station name and Global Positioning System (GPS) location,(iii) a data field for configuration information for each transitvehicle-based BLE gateway, (iv) a data field for the controller driver14 configuration information, and (v) a data field for 3D cameraconfiguration information. These database fields are exemplary only. Inother embodiments, depending on the implementation of the gatelessentry/exit system, the data fields may be more than, less than, ordifferent from those listed above.

There may be a plurality of device locators 140, 142 utilized as part ofa gateless entry/exit environment. The device locators 140, 142 may beplaced at various locations throughout the transit station (for example,a train station or a bus stop) or transit vehicle (for example, a bus ora train) where the gateless entry/exit facility is provided. Each devicelocator 140, 142 may be a BLE receiver configured to “listen” for BLEadvertisements (discussed below) from a mobile device, such as themobile device 17, and send the Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI)and phase data to the positioning engine 144 to enable the positioningengine 144 to determine the position of the mobile device 17. Thelocators 140, 142 may not themselves connect or communicate with themobile device 17, but may rather passively “listen” for BLEadvertisements from the mobile device. In other words, unlike the BLEgateway 138, the locators 140, 142 may not establish a two-waycommunication channel with the mobile device 17. In one embodiment, thepositioning engine 144 may be a computer such as, for example, a laptopor a desktop computer, a mobile device, a tablet computer, asingle-board computer, or a modular controller such as a Raspberry Pin™or Arduino™ unit. The positioning engine 144 may operate on a softwarethat collects data from the device locators 140, 142, analyzes thecollected data, and then determines the position of a mobile device,such as the mobile device 17, in a user-defined site map. In thatregard, the positioning engine 144 may be communicatively coupled to thedevice locators 140, 142 through, for example, the Ethernet router 150.The user-defined site map may be generated in software and may be a mapof the relevant site—such as, for example, a transit station or atransit vehicle where the gateless entry/exit system is implemented—thatdefines different regions within the map to pinpoint the location orposition of a mobile device-carrying user, such as the user 163 in FIGS.11-12. The combination of device locators 140, 142 and the positioningengine 144 may function as a BLE-based real-time locating system withhigh accuracy positioning. In one embodiment, the device locators 140,142, and the positioning engine 144 (and its operating software) may bethe products of Quuppa, LLC (quuppa.com) of Arlington, Va., havingheadquarters in Espoo, Finland.

In particular embodiments, the Ethernet router 150 may be a routercapable of routing Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol(TCP/IP) data or User Datagram Protocol (UDP) data over multipleEthernet connections. The router 150 may or may not have Wi-Ficapabilities. It is noted here that in the embodiments of FIGS. 11-12, afare gate, like the fare gate 70 in FIG. 5, may be optional. However,fare gate(s) also may be provided in some embodiments along withgateless entry/exit, as per desired implementation. As discussed earlierwith reference to FIG. 5, a fare gate may be any physical mechanism usedto prevent an unauthorized user from entering a paid area.

It is noted that, in one embodiment, all Bluetooth® communicationsbetween various entities in FIGS. 11-12 may conform to the standards setforth in the Bluetooth® Core Specification 4.2.

In FIG. 11, a proximity area 165 is shown to be “divided” into an unpaidarea 167 and a paid area 168. In the embodiment of FIG. 11, the paid andunpaid areas are shown to be non-overlapping. However, these areas maybe overlapping in some embodiments as shown, for example, in FIG. 12. A“proximity area” may be an area defined by geo-location or by theproximity to a BLE wakeup beacon that covers the path a user would needto take to a paid area in a gateless (or gated) entry/exit system. Inthe context of the embodiments in FIGS. 9-12, an “unpaid area” may be anarea where a user may not have yet paid for transit fare or the user'spre-purchased electronic ticket has not been verified yet. Similarly, inthe context of the embodiments in FIGS. 9-12, a “paid area” may refer toan area where only users who have paid the transit fare or who havevalid electronic tickets are allowed to be. Generally, a “paid area” mayrepresent a portion of the transit facility (for example, a transitstation or a transit vehicle) allocated mainly for the authorized usersof the transit service. A pre-defined region 170 is also shown in FIG.11 referring to an area covered by the 3D camera's field of view 160 andlocated directly in the path for the user 163 to enter the paid area168. In the gateless entry configuration 174 of FIG. 12, the proximityarea 176 itself may be the unpaid area—as indicated by the usage of thesame reference numeral “176” for both, whereas the paid area 178 may bea portion of (or subset of) the proximity area 176, as shown. Asmentioned before, the gateless entry configuration 174 of FIG. 12 may beprimarily implemented inside a transit vehicle such that the boundariesof the paid area 178 may be the perimeter of the transit vehicle whereasthe unpaid area 176 may be the area surrounding the entry and exitpoints of the transit vehicle. Therefore, there may be an overlapbetween the paid area 178 and the unpaid area 176, as shown. On theother hand, the gateless entry configuration 136 of FIG. 11 may beprimarily implemented at a stationary location such as a transitstation. Therefore, the unpaid area 167 (farther from a transit vehicle)may be distinct (non-overlapping) from the paid area 168 (closer to thetransit vehicle), as shown.

In the embodiments of FIGS. 11-12, the respective “proximity area” 165,176 may be considered a “gateless entry location” through which a usermay avail a transit service—such as, for example, a bus service, a trainservice, a ferry service, and the like—or enter/exit a transit vehiclein a gateless manner. As noted before, the term “gateless entrylocation” may be analogized with the earlier-mentioned “fare gatetrigger zone” (or “fare validation zone”). However, in the embodimentsof FIGS. 9-12, the term “gateless entry location” is used instead of theearlier term “fare gate trigger zone” to emphasize the gatelessentry/exit aspect instead of the fare validation aspect (even thoughfare validation also may be performed in the embodiments of FIGS. 9-12).However, in other embodiments (such as, for example, in transitlocations having gated and/or gateless entry options), these terms maybe used synonymously or interchangeably. It is noted here that themobile device's 17 presence in a gateless entry location (165 or 176)may indicate its user's 163 intent to pay a fare and proceed to theactual transit terminal or transit vehicle.

Because of substantial similarity in the hardware configurations of theembodiments in FIGS. 11-12, these embodiments are jointly addressed inthe below-described operational details of gateless entry/exit. In otherwords, the discussion below applies to both of the embodiments in FIGS.11-12, unless specified otherwise. The following operations illustratehow gateless entry/exit may be accomplished in particular embodiments asper teachings of the present disclosure. The operations below arenumbered for ease of discussion only; the numbering does not necessarilyreflect any specific order of performance or execution of describedtasks.

1. Initially, the user 163 may enter the relevant proximity area 165,176 with possession of the mobile device 17.

2. The device-based user app 12 may be triggered to run in thebackground by either the mobile device's 17 detection of a BLE wake-upbeacon signal from the beacon transmitter 152 and/or sensing of thetransit service's geo-location through the mobile device's GPS (notshown). The relevant aspects of BLE wake-up beacontransmission/reception are already discussed before with reference todiscussion of FIG. 5. Thus, based on the received Bluetooth beaconsignal, the user app 12 in the mobile device 17 may determine that themobile device 17 is in the proximity of a gateless entry location 165 or176. Alternatively (or additionally), the user app 12 may evaluategeo-location data from the mobile device's 17 GPS receiver (not shown)to determine that the mobile device is in the proximity of the gatelessentry location 165 or 176.

3. Upon being triggered, the user app 12 may command the mobile device17 to transmit BLE advertisement packets over a BLE interface, such asthe interface 158. Each advertisement packet may contain data indicatingthat the mobile device 17 contains the user app 12 and is configured forgateless entry/exit for the relevant transit service. In case of a gatedentry location such as a fare gate, each advertisement packet maycontain data indicating that the mobile device is configured for gatedentry/exit for the transit service. In some embodiments, thetransmission rate of these advertisement packets may be slower in orderto conserve battery. It is noted here that, if the mobile device 17operates on an iOS™ operating system, in some embodiments, the BLEgateway 138 may be required to advertise data packets and/or bediscoverable to the mobile device 17 before authenticating the mobiledevice 17 (discussed below). However, the iOS mobile device may stillneed to advertise BLE packets to enable the device locators 140 and/or142 to determine its position (discussed below). In other words, in caseof iOS-based mobile devices, the BLE gateway 138 may need to command theiOS mobile device—via the BLE interface 158—to start transmitting BLEadvertisement packets instead of just commanding it to increase thetransmission rate of BLE packets (discussed below). These iOS™device-related additional steps may be optional in case of anAndroid™-based mobile device.

4. The BLE gateway 138 may detect one or more of the BLE advertisementpackets and initiate a connection with the mobile device 17 over the BLEinterface 158.

5. Once connection has been established between the mobile device 17 andthe gateway unit 138, the BLE gateway 138 may authenticate the mobiledevice 17 using Bluetooth-based messaging with the mobile device 17 overthe BLE interface 158. Such messaging may include a scheme such as“challenge-response” in which the user app 12 may communicate with thegateway unit 138 to facilitate authentication of the mobile device 17.The authentication may be performed by the gateway unit 138 alone orthrough communication with the controller driver 14 in the entrycontroller 148 or with any other unit(s) (not shown). In certainembodiments, a mobile device may need to be authenticated to make surethat the mobile device attempting to utilize a transit service is indeedan authorized mobile device and is not otherwise prohibited fromavailing the transit service.

6. If the mobile device 17 is authenticated, the BLE gateway 138 maycommand—via the BLE interface 158—the mobile device 17 to now increasethe transmission rate of the BLE advertisement packets and, within thosepackets, transmit a device-specific value that uniquely identifies themobile device 17 and facilitates determination of its location, forexample, collectively by the device locators 140 and/or 142 and thepositioning engine 144. In some embodiments, the BLE gateway 138 may notrequire increased transmission rate. In that case, the mobile device 17may transmit the new BLE packets at the same transmission rate as theBLE packets mentioned under sub-paragraph (3) above.

7. If the mobile device is authenticated, the user app 12 also maytransmit a secure token over the BLE interface 158 to the BLE gateway138. The secure token may facilitate validation of an electronic ticketstored in the mobile device for the transit service. Hence, upon receiptof the secure token, the BLE gateway 138 may communicate the token tothe database 154 through the controller unit 148. In one embodiment, thedatabase 154 may contain a record of purchased tickets to enable thecontroller unit 148 to determine if the user's 163 ticket (associatedwith the secure token) is valid or not. The controller unit 148 may sendthe secure token to the database 154, which may search its records andreturn a confirmation message to the controller unit 148 indicating thatthe secure token represents a valid ticket. The validation decision maybe stored in the controller unit 148 (by the controller driver 14) forthe access decision at a later time.

8. In one embodiment, the manufacturer/provider of the device locators140, 142 and the positioning engine 144 may be the same. In that case,the device-specific value mentioned above may include a manufacturingvalue and unique manufacturer data/keys provided by that manufacturerfor the mobile device 17. This device-specific value (containing uniquemanufacturer keys) may have been pre-stored in the mobile device 17 (forexample, by the user app 12). The gateway 138 may provide thedevice-specific value to the positioning engine 144 over the Ethernet toenable the positioning engine 144 to uniquely identify the mobile device17 from among a plurality of mobile devices in the proximity area 165 or176 and to also determine/confirm its location.

9. It is noted here that, in FIG. 11, the device locators 140 and 142are shown separated by the camera 146 simply for the sake ofillustration. In particular embodiments, all of the device locators 140and 142 may be placed in a spread-out cluster without any interveningdevice/unit. Based on BLE signaling from the mobile device 17, one ormore of the device locators 140 and/or 142 may detect the mobile device17 (without actively connecting or communicating with the device 17, asnoted earlier). For example, the device locators 140 and/or 142 maypassively “listen” to the BLE advertisement packets mentioned insub-paragraph (6) above to determine the location of the mobile device17. As also mentioned in sub-paragraph (6) above, in some embodiments,the BLE gateway 138 may instruct the mobile device 17 to increase thepost-authentication transmission of BLE packets. Such increased rate oftransmission may provide as much data as possible to the locators 140,142 within a short period of time, thereby expediting the determinationof location of the mobile device 17. Depending on the position of thelocators 140, 142 and the mobile device 17, the mobile device-detectinglocators may use angle-of-arrival or triangulation to determine theprecise location of the mobile device 17. The location information ofthe mobile device 17 may be conveyed to the positioning engine 144 forfurther processing.

10. The positioning engine 144 may receive the mobile device locationinformation from the device-detecting locators 140, 142, and analyzethat information in view of the unique manufacturer keys received fromthe BLE gateway 138 as part of the device-specific value mentionedbefore. As a result, the positioning engine 144 may affirmativelyidentify the mobile device 17 and associate it with the location datareceived from the device locators 140, 142. The positioning engine 144may generate a two-dimensional (2D) version of the location dataindicating a respective x-y position of the mobile device within theproximity area 165 or 176. The positioning engine 144 may timestamp the2D location data for each unique mobile device, such as the device 17,and send the timestamped location data to the controller unit 148 (and,hence, to the controller driver 14) via the Ethernet router 150. Thecontroller driver 14 may collect this location data as an x-y positionwith a timestamp and may optionally smooth the received data usingtechniques such as Kalman filtering and cubic splines. In someembodiments, the positioning engine 144 also may provide athree-dimensional (3D) version of location data in terms of x-y-z(height) coordinates. In certain embodiments, the controller driver 14may be configured to collect and use such 3D location data instead ofthe 2D location data.

11. When the user 163 enters the pre-determined region 170 (FIG. 11) ora similar coverage location within the proximity area 176 (FIG. 12) withthe mobile phone 17 in possession, the 3D time-of-flight camera 146 maydetect the person 163 as an object in the camera's field of view 160.The camera 146 may generate a 2D version of the location of this“object” indicating the x-y position of the user 163 within thepre-defined region 170 (or a similar coverage location within theproximity area 176). The camera 146 may then communicate the presenceand position of this “object” to the controller driver 14 by sending atimestamped version of the 2D “object” location data to the entrycontroller 148. The controller driver 14 may collect this location dataas an x-y position with a timestamp and may optionally smooth thereceived data using techniques such as Kalman filtering and cubicsplines. In some embodiments, the camera 146 also may provide athree-dimensional (3D) version of location data in terms of x-y-z(height) coordinates. In certain embodiments, the controller driver 14may be configured to collect and use such 3D location data instead ofthe 2D location data.

12. The user 163 may then exit the camera field 160 (and, hence, thepre-defined region 170 or a similar coverage location within theproximity area 176), at which point the controller driver 14 in thecontroller unit 148 may compare the device-specific timestamped locationdata from the positioning engine 144 with the device-specifictimestamped location data from the 3D camera 146 to determine if theuser 163 is attempting to ingress into the paid area 168 (or 178). Incase of multiple users proceeding towards the paid area, such comparisonof device-specific timestamped location data (for each mobile device)from two different sources may allow the controller unit 148 todetermine which user is attempting ingress into the paid area. Thevalidity of the electronic ticket on the user's mobile device 17 willhave already been determined (as discussed before) prior to any decisionbased on this data comparison.

13. If there is a fare gate, like the fare gate 70 in FIG. 5, thecontroller driver 14 in the controller unit 148 may send the appropriatecommand to the gate to either open if the user's ticket is valid orremain closed if the user's ticket is invalid. In one embodiment, whenthe gate opens, the user can enter a “paid area” to avail the transitservice.

14. As mentioned before, the gateless entry facility may be providedwithout a fare gate or along with it (as an additional alternative). Ina gateless entry/exit environment, audible and/or visible indicators maybe provided in the paid area 168, 178 to guide the user 163. If thereare indicators (not shown), the controller driver 14 may command theindicators to actuate in a manner that corresponds to the accessdecision—that is, whether the user should be allowed to avail thetransit service through a gateless entry point or not. For example, ifthe user has a valid ticket and the controller unit 148 has authorizedthe user to avail the transit service, one or more Light Emitting Diode(LED) lights may be turned on illuminating the gateless entry point, aspeaker may be actuated to emit a specific sound or instructions, aflashing arrow sign pointing towards the gateless entry may be actuated,and so on. The user can continue walking into a transit vehicle or apre-designated boarding area for the transit service in a gatelessmanner. This hassle-free approach may significantly improve the userexperience and passenger throughput, especially during peak periods.

15. As mentioned before, in one embodiment, the controller unit 148 maytransmit its access decision—gateless entry granted or denied—to themobile device 17 via a BLE message to the mobile device 17 to present anotification to the user 163 of the status of the relevant transitticket. In particular embodiments, the controller unit 148 mayoccasionally communicate with the mobile device 17 via a Bluetoothinterface, as discussed before with reference to FIG. 5. The accessdecision may include a ticket acceptance response indicating that theelectronic ticket associated with the secure token received from themobile device 17 is valid for transit. The user app 12 may present thereceived information as an audible and/or visible notification on themobile device 17.

The embodiments in FIGS. 9-12 illustrate exemplary approaches tofacilitating gateless entry/exit for a transit service. As discussed,various system components—such as, for example, the BLE gateway 138, thedevice locators 140, 142, the 3D camera 146, the entry controller 148,and the like—may operate in a coordinated manner to determine thevalidity of an electronic ticket stored in the user's mobile device 17and to track the movement of the user 163 to determine the user'sposition vis-à-vis a pre-designated “paid area” in the system tofacilitate the user's entry/exit into/out of a gateless transit point.It is noted here that although the gateless entry aspect predominates inthe above discussion of FIGS. 9-12, the teachings of the presentdisclosure can be suitably applied—with relevant modifications, asneeded—to manage gateless exit locations as well as gated entry/exitlocations (for example, locations having fare gates).

FIG. 13 is a block diagram of an exemplary mobile device 17 according toone embodiment of the present disclosure. As noted earlier, the mobileor wireless device 17 may be a UE, a smartphone, or any other wirelessdevice operable for hands-free fare validation as per particularembodiments of the present disclosure. The wireless device 17 mayinclude a processor 180, a memory 182 (which may, in some embodiments,also include memory on UE's Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card), atransceiver 184, and an antenna unit 185. The memory 182 may include theprogram code for the FV user app 12. The program code may be executed bythe processor 180, which, in one embodiment, may be similar to the CPU22 in FIG. 2. Upon execution of the user app's program code by theprocessor 180, the processor may configure the mobile device 17 toperform various mobile device-specific tasks associated with thehands-free fare validation and gateless entry/exit methodologies as perthe teachings of the present disclosure. In one embodiment, such tasksmay include, for example, the process steps illustrated in FIG. 3 and/orthe process steps illustrated in FIG. 9. Such tasks also may include,for example, mobile device-specific (or FV user app-based) operationsdiscussed earlier with reference to FIGS. 5-12.

The memory 182 may store data or other related communications receivedfrom the controller unit 18 (FIG. 2) or the controller unit 148 (in caseof a gateless environment in FIGS. 11-12) as well as other contentneeded to facilitate hands-free fare validation and/or gatelessentry/exit. For example, in one embodiment, the memory 182 may store,for example, pre-purchased electronic ticket(s), itinerary information,electronic purchase receipts, Bluetooth beacon ID, and the like. Thememory 182 also may store results of fare validation (for example,ticket activation status, valid/invalid transaction, and the like)received from the controller unit 18 (or the controller unit 148) aswell as entry/exit notifications for the user.

The transceiver 184 may communicate with the processor 180 to performtransmission/reception of data, control, or other signaling information(via the antenna unit 185) to/from the controller unit 18 (or thecontroller unit 148) with which the mobile device 17 may be incommunication during hands-free fare validation or gateless entry/exit.In particular embodiments, the transceiver 184 may support the Bluetoothbased—such as, for example, the Bluetooth LE-based—communication withthe controller unit 18 (or the controller unit 148) to implement thehands-free fare validation methodology (and also the gateless entrymethodology in some embodiments) as per the teachings of the presentdisclosure. The transceiver 184 may be a single unit or may comprise oftwo separate units—a transmitter (not shown) and a receiver (not shown).The antenna unit 185 may include one or more antennas. Alternativeembodiments of the wireless device 17 may include additional componentsresponsible for providing additional functionality, including any of thefunctionality identified herein, such as, for example, receivingBluetooth beacon signals, transmitting electronic ticket information,communicating with the controller unit 18 (or the controller unit 148),displaying various notifications or messages to the user of the device17, etc., and/or any functionality necessary to support the solution asper the teachings of the present disclosure. For example, in oneembodiment, the wireless device 17 may also include an on-board powersupply unit 186 (e.g., a battery or other source of power) to allow thedevice to be operable in a mobile manner.

In one embodiment, the mobile device 17 may be configured (in hardware,via software, or both) to implement device-specific aspects ofhands-free fare validation and gateless entry/exit as per teachings ofthe present disclosure. As noted before, the software or program codemay be part of the FV user app 12 and may be stored in the memory 182and executable by the processor 180. For example, when existing hardwarearchitecture of the device 17 cannot be modified, the functionalitydesired of the device 17 may be obtained through suitable programming ofthe processor 180 using the program code of the FV user app 12. Theexecution of the program code (by the processor 180) may cause theprocessor to perform as needed to support the hands-free fare validationand gateless entry/exit aspects as per the teachings of the presentdisclosure. Thus, although the wireless device 17 may be referred to as“performing,” “accomplishing,” or “carrying out” (or similar such otherterms) a function/task or a process or a method step, such performancemay be technically accomplished in hardware and/or software as desired.

FIG. 14 depicts a block diagram of an exemplary controller unit 188according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. The controllerunit 188 represents any of the earlier-discussed controller units 18(FIG. 2) or 148 (FIGS. 11-12). The controller unit or system 188 may besuitably configured—in hardware and/or software—to implement thehands-free fare validation methodology and/or the gateless entry/exitmethodology according to the teachings of the present disclosure. Thecontroller unit 188 may include a processor 190 and ancillary hardwareto accomplish hands-free fare validation and/or gateless entry/exitdiscussed before. In one embodiment, the processor 190 may be similar tothe CPU 30 in FIG. 2. The processor 190 may be configured to interfacewith a number of external devices. In one embodiment, a number of inputdevices 192 may be part of the system 188 and may provide datainputs—such as user input, camera images, statistical data, and thelike—to the processor 190 for further processing. The input devices 192may include, for example, a touchpad, a camera, a proximity sensor, aGPS sensor, a computer keyboard, a touch-screen, a joystick, a physicalor virtual “clickable button,” a computer mouse/pointing device, and thelike. In FIG. 14, the processor 190 is shown coupled to a system memory194, a peripheral storage unit 196, one or more output devices 197, anda network interface unit 199. A display screen is an example of anoutput device 197. In some embodiments, the controller unit 188 mayinclude more than one instance of the devices shown. In variousembodiments, all of the components shown in FIG. 14 may be housed withina single housing. In other embodiments, the controller unit 188 may notinclude all of the components shown in FIG. 14. Furthermore, thecontroller unit 188 may be configured as a standalone system, as aserver system, as a client system, or in any other suitable form factor.

In particular embodiments, the controller unit 188 may include more thanone processor (e.g., in a distributed processing configuration). Whenthe controller unit 188 is a multiprocessor system, there may be morethan one instance of the processor 190 or there may be multipleprocessors coupled to the processor 190 via their respective interfaces(not shown). The processor 190 may be a System on Chip (SoC) and/or mayinclude more than one Central Processing Units (CPUs).

The system memory 194 may be any semiconductor-based storage system suchas, for example, Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), Static RAM (SRAM),Synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), Rambus® DRAM, flash memory, various types ofRead Only Memory (ROM), and the like. In some embodiments, the systemmemory 194 may include multiple different types of semiconductormemories, as opposed to a single type of memory. In other embodiments,the system memory 194 may be a non-transitory data storage medium.

The peripheral storage unit 196, in various embodiments, may includesupport for magnetic, optical, magneto-optical, or solid-state storagemedia such as hard drives, optical disks (such as Compact Disks (CDs) orDigital Versatile Disks (DVDs)), non-volatile Random Access Memory (RAM)devices, Secure Digital (SD) memory cards, Universal Serial Bus (USB)memories, and the like. In some embodiments, the peripheral storage unit196 may be coupled to the processor 190 via a standard peripheralinterface such as a Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) interface, aFibre Channel interface, a Firewire® (IEEE 1394) interface, a PeripheralComponent Interface Express (PCI Express™) standard based interface, aUSB protocol based interface, or another suitable interface. Varioussuch storage devices may be non-transitory data storage media.

As mentioned earlier, a display screen may be an example of the outputdevice 197. Other examples of an output device include agraphics/display device, a computer screen, an alarm system, or anyother type of data output device. In some embodiments, the inputdevice(s) 192 and the output device(s) 197 may be coupled to theprocessor 190 via an I/O or peripheral interface(s).

In one embodiment, the network interface unit 199 may communicate withthe processor 190 to enable the controller unit 188 to couple to anetwork or a communication interface. In another embodiment, the networkinterface unit 199 may be absent altogether. The network interface 199may include any suitable devices, media and/or protocol content forconnecting the controller unit 188 to a network/interface—whether wiredor wireless. In various embodiments, the network may include Local AreaNetworks (LANs), Wide Area Networks (WANs), wired or wireless Ethernet,telecommunication networks, or other suitable types ofnetworks/interfaces. For example, the network may be a packet-switchednetwork such as, for example, an Internet Protocol (IP) network like theInternet, a circuit-switched network, such as the Public SwitchedTelephone Network (PSTN), or a combination of packet-switched andcircuit-switched networks. In another embodiment, the network may be anIP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) based network, a satellite-basedcommunication link, a Bluetooth or Bluetooth LE (BLE) basednetwork/interface, an NFC based network/interface, a WorldwideInteroperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) system based on Instituteof Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standard IEEE 802.16e, anIP-based cellular network such as, for example, a Third GenerationPartnership Project (3GPP) or 3GPP2 cellular network like a Long TermEvolution (LTE) network, a combination of cellular and non-cellularnetworks, a proprietary corporate network, a Public Land Mobile Network(PLMN), an Ethernet connection, and the like.

The controller unit 188 may include an on-board power supply unit 200 toprovide electrical power to various system components illustrated inFIG. 14. The power supply unit 200 may receive batteries or may beconnectable to an AC electrical power outlet. In one embodiment, thepower supply unit 200 may convert solar energy or other renewable energyinto electrical power.

In one embodiment, a non-transitory, computer-readable data storagemedium, such as, for example, the system memory 194 or a peripheral datastorage unit, such as a removable memory, may store program code orsoftware for the FV controller driver 14. In the embodiment of FIG. 14,the system memory 194 is shown to include such program code. Theprocessor 190 may be configured to execute the program code, whereby thecontroller unit 188 may be operative to perform various controller-unitspecific tasks associated with the hands-free fare validationmethodology and/or the gateless entry/exit methodology as per theteachings of the present disclosure. In one embodiment, such tasks mayinclude, for example, some or all of the process steps illustrated inany of the FIGS. 4 and 10. Such tasks also may include, for example,relevant controller driver-based operations discussed earlier withreference to FIGS. 5-12. The program code or software may be proprietarysoftware or open source software which, upon execution by the processor190, may enable the controller unit 188 to perform controllerunit-specific operations to support the hands-free fare validation andgateless entry/exit aspects as per teachings of the present disclosureas well as to support other related actions (such as, for example,operating in the maintenance mode).

In the preceding description, for purposes of explanation and notlimitation, specific details are set forth (such as particulararchitectures, interfaces, techniques, etc.) in order to provide athorough understanding of the disclosed technology. However, it will beapparent to those skilled in the art that the disclosed technology maybe practiced in other embodiments that depart from these specificdetails. That is, those skilled in the art will be able to devisevarious arrangements which, although not explicitly described or shownherein, embody the principles of the disclosed technology. In someinstances, detailed descriptions of well-known devices, circuits, andmethods are omitted so as not to obscure the description of thedisclosed technology with unnecessary detail. All statements hereinreciting principles, aspects, and embodiments of the disclosedtechnology, as well as specific examples thereof, are intended toencompass both structural and functional equivalents thereof.Additionally, it is intended that such equivalents include bothcurrently known equivalents as well as equivalents developed in thefuture, such as, for example, any elements developed that perform thesame function, regardless of structure.

Thus, for example, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the artthat block diagrams herein (e.g., in FIGS. 2 and 13-14) can representconceptual views of illustrative circuitry or other functional unitsembodying the principles of the technology. Similarly, it will beappreciated that the flowcharts in FIGS. 3-4 and 9-10 represent variousprocesses which may be substantially performed by a respective processor(e.g., the processor 180 in FIG. 13 or the processor 190 in FIG. 14, asapplicable). Such a processor may include, by way of example, a generalpurpose processor, a special purpose processor, a conventionalprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), a plurality ofmicroprocessors, one or more microprocessors in association with a DSPcore, a controller, a microcontroller, Application Specific IntegratedCircuits (ASICs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) circuits, anyother type of integrated circuit (IC), and/or a state machine. Some orall of the functionalities described above in the context of FIGS. 1-12also may be provided by a respective processor 180 or 190, in thehardware and/or software. Any of the processors 180 and 190 may employdistributed processing in certain embodiments.

When certain inventive aspects require software-based processing, suchsoftware or program code may reside in a computer-readable data storagemedium. As noted earlier with reference to FIG. 14, such data storagemedium may be part of the peripheral storage 196, or may be part of thesystem memory 194, or the processor's 190 internal memory (not shown).In case of the embodiment in FIG. 13, such data storage medium may bepart of the memory 182 or the processor's 180 internal memory (notshown). In certain embodiments, the processors 180 and 190 may executeinstructions stored on a respective such medium to carry out thesoftware-based processing. The computer-readable data storage medium maybe a non-transitory data storage medium containing a computer program,software, firmware, or microcode for execution by a general purposecomputer or a processor mentioned above. Examples of computer-readablestorage media include a ROM, a RAM, a digital register, a cache memory,semiconductor memory devices, magnetic media such as internal harddisks, magnetic tapes and removable disks, magneto-optical media, andoptical media such as CD-ROM disks and DVDs.

Alternative embodiments of the controller unit 188 according toinventive aspects of the present disclosure may include additionalcomponents responsible for providing additional functionality, includingany of the functionality identified above and/or any functionalitynecessary to support the solution as per the teachings of the presentdisclosure. Although features and elements are described above inparticular combinations, each feature or element can be used alonewithout the other features and elements or in various combinations withor without other features. As mentioned before, various FV controllerdriver-based functions and FV user app-based functions discussed hereinmay be provided through the use of hardware (such as circuit hardware)and/or hardware capable of executing software/firmware in the form ofcoded instructions or microcode stored on a computer-readable datastorage medium (mentioned above). Thus, such functions and illustratedfunctional blocks are to be understood as being eitherhardware-implemented and/or computer-implemented, and thusmachine-implemented.

The foregoing describes a system and method in which a user applicationon a mobile device facilitates hands-free fare validation and gatelessentry/exit at a transit facility like a transit station or a transitvehicle. The user application communicates with a Bluetooth gateway toauthenticate the device and provides device-specific information fordevice identification and location determination. The user applicationalso sends a secure token to the gateway to validate an electronicticket stored in the device. A positioning unit uses the device-specificinformation to generate a timestamped location data for the device. Acamera monitors the device user's movement and generates anothertimestamped location data for the device. A controller driver comparesthese two timestamped location data to determine that the user of thedevice is approaching a gateless entry point and allows the user toavail a transit service through the gateless entry point when theelectronic ticket is valid and active. The user can continue walkinginto a transit vehicle or a pre-designated boarding area for the transitservice in a gateless manner. This hassle-free approach maysignificantly improve the user experience and passenger throughput,especially during peak periods.

As will be recognized by those skilled in the art, the innovativeconcepts described in the present application can be modified and variedover a wide range of applications. Accordingly, the scope of patentedsubject matter should not be limited to any of the specific exemplaryteachings discussed above, but is instead defined by the followingclaims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method in a mobile device to facilitategateless entry for a transit service when a user carrying the mobiledevice approaches a transit facility for the transit service, the methodcomprising: determining that the mobile device is in proximity of agateless entry location for the transit service; transmitting aplurality of Bluetooth advertisement packets to a gateway unit at afirst transmission rate over a Bluetooth interface, wherein eachadvertisement packet contains data indicating that the mobile device isconfigured for gateless entry for the transit service; communicatingwith the gateway unit receiving the plurality of Bluetooth advertisementpackets to facilitate authentication of the mobile device; uponauthentication of the mobile device, transmitting transit data to thegateway unit using a plurality of Bluetooth data packets at a secondtransmission rate over the Bluetooth interface, wherein the transit dataincludes: a device-specific value to uniquely identify the mobile deviceand determine a location thereof, and a secure token to facilitatevalidation of an electronic ticket stored in the mobile device for thetransit service; and informing the user to avail the transit servicethrough the gateless entry location.
 2. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: receiving a ticket acceptance response from the gateway unitover the Bluetooth interface indicating that the electronic ticket isvalid for transit.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining thatthe mobile device is in the proximity of the gateless entry locationincludes one of the following: receiving a Bluetooth beacon signal and,based on the received beacon signal, determining that the mobile deviceis in the proximity of the gateless entry location; and evaluatinggeo-location data received by a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiverin the mobile device to determine that the mobile device in theproximity of the gateless entry location.
 4. The method of claim 1,wherein the Bluetooth interface is a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)interface.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the second transmissionrate is higher than the first transmission rate.
 6. The method of claim1, wherein informing the user includes at least one of the following:providing a visible notification on the mobile device; and providing anaudible notification on the mobile device.
 7. A method to facilitategateless entry for a transit service when a user carrying a mobiledevice approaches a transit facility for the transit service, whereinthe method comprises performing the following using a control unit:authenticating the mobile device using Bluetooth-based messaging withthe mobile device over a Bluetooth interface; upon authentication of themobile device, receiving transit data from the mobile device over theBluetooth interface, wherein the transit data includes: adevice-specific value to uniquely identify the mobile device anddetermine a location thereof, and a secure token to facilitatevalidation of an electronic ticket stored in the mobile device for thetransit service; based on the secure token, determining that theelectronic ticket is valid for transit; providing the device-specificvalue to a positioning unit to enable the positioning unit to uniquelyidentify the mobile device and determine the location thereof; receivinga first timestamped location data for the mobile device from thepositioning unit; based on the first timestamped location data,determining that the user is entering a gateless entry point for thetransit service; and allowing the user to avail the transit servicethrough the gateless entry point.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein theBluetooth interface is a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) interface.
 9. Themethod of claim 8, wherein the control unit includes a BLE gateway. 10.The method of claim 7, further comprising: sending a ticket acceptanceresponse to the mobile device over the Bluetooth interface indicatingthat the electronic ticket is valid for transit.
 11. The method of claim7, wherein allowing the user to avail the transit service includes:actuating one or more indicators prompting the user to avail the transitservice through the gateless entry point, wherein said one or moreindicators include at least one of the following: an audible indicator,and a visible indicator.
 12. The method of claim 7, wherein determiningthat the user is entering the gateless entry point for the transitservice includes: receiving a second timestamped location data for themobile device from a camera; and comparing the first and the secondtimestamped location data to determine that the user is entering thegateless entry point for the transit service.
 13. The method of claim12, wherein the camera and the positioning unit are communicativelycoupled to the control unit via an Ethernet connection.
 14. The methodof claim 12, wherein each of the first and the second timestampedlocation data is one of the following: a two-dimensional (2D) dataindicating a respective x-y position of the mobile device; and athree-dimensional (3D) data indicating a respective x-y-z position ofthe mobile device.
 15. The method of claim 7, wherein determining thatthe electronic ticket is valid includes: sending the secure token to adatabase coupled to the control unit, wherein the database contains arecord of purchased tickets; and receiving a confirmation message fromthe database indicating that the secure token represents a valid ticket.16. The method of claim 7, wherein the gateless entry point is within apaid area of the transit facility for the transit service, and whereinthe paid area represents a portion of the transit facility allocated forauthorized users of the transit service.
 17. The method of claim 16,wherein the transit facility is one of the following: a transit station;and a transit vehicle.
 18. A mobile device comprising: a transceiveroperable to wirelessly communicate over a Bluetooth interface; a memoryfor storing program instructions and an electronic ticket; and aprocessor coupled to the transceiver and to the memory, wherein theprocessor is operable to execute the program instructions, which, whenexecuted by the processor, cause the mobile device to perform thefollowing to facilitate entry for a transit service when a user carryingthe mobile device approaches a transit facility for the transit service:determine that the mobile device is in proximity of an entry locationfor the transit service, transmit a plurality of Bluetooth advertisementpackets to a gateway unit at a first transmission rate over theBluetooth interface using the transceiver, wherein each advertisementpacket contains data indicating that the mobile device is configured forentry for the transit service, using the transceiver, communicate withthe gateway unit receiving the plurality of Bluetooth advertisementpackets to facilitate authentication of the mobile device, uponauthentication of the mobile device, transmit transit data to thegateway unit using a plurality of Bluetooth data packets at a secondtransmission rate over the Bluetooth interface using the transceiver,wherein the transit data includes: a device-specific value to uniquelyidentify the mobile device and determine a location thereof, and asecure token to facilitate validation of the electronic ticket stored inthe mobile device for the transit service, and inform the user to availthe transit service through the entry location.
 19. The mobile device ofclaim 18, wherein one of the following applies: the entry location is agateless entry location and each advertisement packet contains dataindicating that the mobile device is configured for gateless entry forthe transit service; and the entry location is a gated entry locationand each advertisement packet contains data indicating that the mobiledevice is configured for entry for the transit service through the gatedentry location.
 20. A system to facilitate entry for a transit servicewhen a user carrying a mobile device approaches a transit facility forthe transit service, wherein the system comprises: a gateway unitoperable to perform the following: authenticate the mobile device usingBluetooth-based messaging with the mobile device over a Bluetoothinterface, upon authentication of the mobile device, receive transitdata from the mobile device over the Bluetooth interface, wherein thetransit data includes: a device-specific value to uniquely identify themobile device and determine a location thereof, and a secure token tofacilitate validation of an electronic ticket stored in the mobiledevice for the transit service, provide the device-specific value to apositioning unit, and provide the secure token to a controller unit; thepositioning unit, wherein the positioning unit is operatively coupled tothe gateway unit and is operable to perform the following: uniquelyidentify the mobile device and determine the location thereof based onthe device-specific value received from the gateway unit, and send afirst timestamped location data for the mobile device to a controllerunit; and the controller unit, wherein the controller unit isoperatively coupled to the gateway unit and the positioning unit, andwherein the controller unit is operable to perform the following: basedon the secure token received from the gateway unit, determine that theelectronic ticket is valid for transit, based on the first timestampedlocation data received from the positioning unit, determine that theuser is entering an entry point for the transit service, and allow theuser to avail the transit service through the entry point.
 21. Thesystem of claim 20, wherein the entry point is one of the following: agateless entry point; and a gated entry point.
 22. The system of claim20, wherein the entry point is a gateless entry point, and wherein thesystem further comprises: a camera operatively coupled to the controllerunit, wherein the camera is operable to transmit a second timestampedlocation data for the mobile device to the controller unit, and whereinthe controller unit is further operable to perform the following:receive the second timestamped location data from the camera, andcompare the first and the second timestamped location data to determinethat the user is entering the gateless entry point for the transitservice.